Is this Never Ending?
by Cascade Fantasy
Summary: Mac returns home to work at Foster's for the summer. He finds that his feelings for Bloo still haven't gone away... but what was originally a small crush now blossoms into a love and a fight they never would have expected...
1. Chapter 1: Mac got a Summer Job

_Hello again! I promised people a sequel to "A Never Ending Weekend" and well, this is it. Once again, this is boyxboy, so if you don't like it, please don't read it. Thanks to all who will read and more importantly, review. Please enjoy! I DO NOT OWN FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS. _

**Is this Never Ending?**

**Chapter One**

Mac bopped his head slowly to the music that was playing on his MP3, watching the wispy clouds blow past the window, revealing the quilt patterned land below. The cabin of the plane was rather humid, and smelled a little bit of sweat, but he could care less. It was summer now!

Summer: a time of freedom, where there was no schoolwork, and endless time to spend with the people that he loved being around most. Wilt, Coco, Frankie, Eduardo, Madame Foster, even Mr. Herriman… but by far, Bloo was the one person that he had to see above everything.

When the plane had landed and Mac had gotten his luggage from the baggage claim, he spotted his mother standing there, looking rather bored. Her arms were crossed and she was leaning back against the wall. She hadn't had much makeup on, and it was clear that she was tired. Her dowdy clothing hugged her curvy body a little too tightly; uncomfortably.

But when Mac waved to her, and called out for her, her eyes brightened up and she looked ten years younger.

"Mac!" she rushed forward and grabbed him, pulling his shaggy brown head down to her lips and kissing him, then stepping back to look at him. She gave him a big hug and he let her, and then hastily she released him.

"Have you got your stuff?" she was back in robotically-programmed-mom mode, the mom that Mac was used to seeing every day.

He nodded and then they headed out to the car that they had parked out front, and quickly his mother jumped back in the car so that she wouldn't get a ticket. Mac put his stuff in the trunk and then climbed in the passenger seat beside her.

On the drive back to town, she hardly tried to keep a conversation going, and her eyes were focused on the roadway ahead of her. She asked a couple of questions, such as how his flight went and if packing up had gone easy for him. He had shipped some of the stuff home because she was busy with work… ever since her promotion when he was around nine, she had been getting progressively distant.

But Mac hadn't minded much. He was always at Foster's, and avoided his brother as best he could. She was there for his elementary and high school graduation; she was there for his prom (he had gone with Goo even though they had broken up at that point), and she was there for conferences and whatever sports games or activities that he had done. Yet there was still something about her that was off.

When they got back to the apartment, Mac unpacked his stuff while his mother called in for a pizza. It arrived about a half hour later, and they assembled at the old table in the kitchen. Margaret, Mac's mother, served up slices of the Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza and flicked on the television set. It was just the two of them. After about two minutes of eating, she turned down the volume on the TV and looked over at him. She waited, and Mac realized that now it was his turn to strike up a conversation.

"Where is Terrence?"

"Wandering around somewhere," Margaret answered, rolling her eyes. "He managed to graduate high school and now he's hopping from job to job, living out of a friend's apartment or whatever."

_Oh, you can't tell me you expected much more out of him?_Mac thought, his eyes darting over to the TV.

"So, Mac, have you thought about getting a job over the summer?" she asked, tearing the cheese off of her pizza and tossing it in her mouth.

"Um… yeah, about that, I have." He chased down the pizza with a swig of milk. "I was offered a job at Foster's."

"Foster's?" she gave him a cautious look, recognition slowly seeping into her eyes. "That's…"

"The place where I gave Bloo up, yes," Mac said, feeling the pace of his heart quicken a little bit. "They said I could live there during a summer and the pay is pretty good too."

"Live there?" she repeated, narrowing her eyes. "I don't know if I like the sound of that…"

Mac shook his head and protested, "Mom, it's a great offer, and I'm going to take it. I'll visit you on the weekends. Okay?"

She mumbled something under her breath and then ate another piece of pizza. Mac watched her, wondering what she was thinking. His palms felt a little sweaty from waiting for a positive comment—some sort of approval.

"Okay," she mumbled back. "I guess. You say it pays well…"

"It really does, Mom."

"When do they want you to move in?"

"I'd have to call and check," he said, trying to not sound too happy, "but I think Mr. Herriman—he's um, kind of the boss there—wanted me to move in over the weekend. So tomorrow."

"I hope you didn't unpack too much…"

"I didn't. The pizza came too quickly…" Mac smiled a little. "It'll be great, Mom."

She gave him an icy glare, and then arched a brow. "Do you still talk to Bloo?"

"Um… sometimes." _She still doesn't know. After all this time, she doesn't know. What luck!_"Like, we'll call each other up… maybe once a month…"

"He still hasn't been adopted?"

Mac tensed at that statement, a little angry. He looked down, and when he raised his head, his eyes met his mother's icy stare. "No. He hasn't. He doesn't really want to be adopted, either."

He stood up and then helped to clear the table, and then he headed back into his room and shut his door. He shuffled over to his bed and then flopped down onto his bed. He rolled over and laughed crazily into his pillow, because he was so crazy happy he couldn't stand it.

He pulled out his phone and rushed into the closet and pulled the door closed. He dialed Bloo's cell phone and within thirty seconds, he picked up.

"Hey," Bloo said. "What's up, Macky-dacky?"

"Bloo! She says that it's cool! I'm going to come and live with you!"

"Dude, seriously?" Bloo shrieked over the phone. "Mac, that's awesome!"

"I'm moving in tomorrow," Mac whispered, his voice still ecstatic even though hushed. "So tell everyone, and tell Mr. Herriman. And remember—_they don't really know me._"

"Got it—fool your mom, yadda yadda…"

"Please take this seriously!" Mac pleaded a little whiningly. "I gotta go now… but I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow. 'Night Mac."

He smiled warmly, blushing a little. He stared at his feet. "Good night, Bloo."

As they hung up, Mac knew that sometime this summer, he would have to face the music—and try to resolve his feelings about Bloo.

They hadn't gone away after all.

And if anything, after hearing Bloo's voice and put together with the realization of what lay ahead tomorrow, they had gotten crazily stronger.


	2. Chapter 2: MAC'S BACK!

_So, hello again. I hope that there are people that are enjoying this story… I really do. Genuinely, I worked hard on it, and I take it pretty seriously. Like I said before, if people have a problem with the pairing—which look, I understand that it makes people uncomfortable. But nobody is forcing you to read this. Also, I'm not interested in getting into an argument with anyone on this. All I wanted to do was hopefully, post a story that some people would enjoy. With that being said, onward with the story, and once again, thank you to readers and reviewers. _

**Chapter Two**

Mac showed up the very next morning; early, dragging suitcases and boxes that he had taken from college. The room that he would be given was supposed to be very small, with only enough room for a bed, dresser and nightstand, along with a fold-up table and a folding chair. When Mac arrived, Mr. Herriman pretended that he did not know Mac very well, and escorted him and his mother on a tour around the building, which took about a half hour. After that was over, Margaret said that she had to go home, so she kissed her son on the forehead. Without looking back, she left the house, got in the car and drove home.

And everyone cheered, and when Mac turned around, he saw that dropping from the ceiling was a giant, colorful banner that read, "Welcome home, Mac!" and was accompanied by a rain of confetti.

Mac felt Bloo tackle him from behind, and Mac didn't give out like he used to. He laughed and turned around and gave him a playful shove. Bloo stared back at Mac with a great big smile, and then in a flash, it turned to a frown.

"I thought she'd never leave!" Bloo cried out, throwing his arms up in the air. "Can you believe that she wanted to help you unpack your stuff like you were five or something?"

Mac rolled his eyes and said, "She's just being my mom, Bloo."

"Not since you're 18," Bloo said with a sly wink. "You don't need your mommy, do you?"

Mr. Herriman hopped forward, looking absolutely delighted. He fixed his monocle and said in his deep voice, "Welcome home, Master Mac."

"Thank you, Mr. Herriman," Mac said with a smile. "I'm looking forward to working here for this summer."

"And the summer after that, and the summer after that, and the summer after that," Frankie grinned as she walked up, still holding a broom that she had been using to sweep up the dining hall.

"We'll have enough work to keep you busy so you're not bored, sonny," Madame Foster said with that wicked cackle of hers as she approached. She was about ten years older now, and she was more dependent on her cane than she had ever been.

Mac then went through talking to each and every one of the friends, receiving hugs (especially from Eduardo) presents, and just much needed smiles. It had been a while since there was a celebration at Foster's, and even the friends that didn't know Mac wanted to be there in the foyer for the excitement.

A while later Mac was getting exhausted from talking so much and smiling so much, so Mr. Herriman cleared away the foyer and allowed Mac to head upstairs to his room. He was only a hall away from the room that Bloo shared with Coco, Eduardo and Wilt.

Wilt happily carried most of Mac's things up the stairs and the other friends followed. Bloo wouldn't stop talking, and Mac idly listened. His emotions were at an all time high from knowing that he was going to be living at Foster's.

The friends all helped him unpack what clothes he had and helped arrange his room so that Mac could live in it comfortably. It took about an hour and a half, and when they were finished, it seemed to Mac just like his old room at home… just smaller, and the bed wasn't a bunk bed.

"You sure that you don't need any more help?" Wilt asked, hanging his head in through the doorway.

Mac smiled and shook his head. "No thanks, Wilt." He drummed his fingertips on the tabletop. "I need a little bit of time for myself."

When he thought everyone had gone, Mac took the last couple of minutes to just make sure everything was the way it needed to be. He took out the last item that he had been embarrassed to take out, and removed it. It was the same picture of Bloo that he had kept for years. He blew into the glass, lifting up the dust, and then set it on the nightstand.

"You _still _have that picture of me? Man, you need to get a new one."

Mac gasped slightly and turned around to see Bloo standing there in the doorway. He shuffled inside and then sat down close to Mac on the bed.

"Something wrong?" he asked Mac.

"No, no… I'm just thinking. It's all new to me, you know?"

"Yeah, I know… But it's going to be great. You'll live here till the end of summer, then go back to college, and then come and live here for the next summer. Your mom didn't suspect a thing!"

"Yeah," Mac grumbled, suddenly irked. "She doesn't notice much anymore, does she…"

Bloo blinked, and Mac shook his head. "Never mind, it's not important."

He then turned back to Bloo, unable to restrain his emotions, and embraced him tightly. Bloo was a little bit surprised by this, but relaxed at the soft, cautious touch of Mac.

"I'm… really glad to be here, Bloo."


	3. Chapter 3: Two Sides to an Argument

**Chapter Three**

It had been two weeks now since Mac had started working at Foster's. After the first weekend that he was there, he was given tasks and put to the test. His days were now filled with piles of dirty laundry, swirling clothes in soapy water, endless rows of used dishes, and even playing the negotiator when imaginary friends would get in a fight or the comforting friend when a new one arrived and was sad. No matter what, it seemed like he hardly had a break.

By the time the night rolled around and the other imaginary friends were put to the task of doing dishes, Mac felt so exhausted that he just wanted to go to bed. But then his friends would show up, grinning enthusiastically, wanting to play a game of some sort. And Mac enjoyed spending all this time around Bloo.

They were watching a horror movie on the TV, which was partially blocked out to the shivering figure of Eduardo underneath a blanket off to the left. Mac was subtly snuggled close to Bloo, pretending that he was falling asleep while watching the movie. Bloo kind of glared at him at first then rolled his eyes and propped his head up on his hand and continued to watch the movie. Mac's heart drummed against his chest, and he looked up at Bloo. He wondered if his crush even had a clue as to what was going on with his best friend. If he never found out, Mac thought that would be best. He didn't want to ruin anything between them—especially since Bloo didn't seem like he swung that way.

It was around ten thirty at night, and Mac had now fallen asleep despite the blood curdling screams and threatening music that the movie was emitting. As the credits were rolling, Wilt leaned over and with a long, stretchy arm, flicked on the light switch. Eduardo hadn't moved from his position on the floor for the past two hours.

"Sorry, Ed," Wilt murmured, standing up. "We'll try to pick a family film next time."

"That was a lame slasher movie." Bloo shrugged a little, trying to get Mac to wake up. He turned his head and looked at his sleeping friend. "Jeez. He's really out of it."

"I could carry him," Wilt offered, and Bloo shook his head.

"He's a big boy; he can get up by himself."

Eduardo pulled the blanket off of his head, being careful so that the fabric wouldn't tear through his horns. He stared at them all with big bright eyes.

"I-I want to go to b-bed now," he cried out. "Por favor."

Bloo gave Mac a slight shove. Mac's head rolled back a little and he mumbled, but remained asleep.

"Bloo, I'm going to go take Ed and Coco up, sorry," Wilt said, and then whispered, "I don't want Eduardo to have an accident…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Bloo grumbled, watching as they left the room.

He waited till they had left and he turned to Mac and started shoving him.

"Mac. Ma-a-a-a-c. W-a-a-a-a-a-k-e uh-up!" Bloo drawled, shaking his shoulders now.

Mac's eyes slowly fluttered open and he rubbed them, yawning.

"What'd I miss?"

"Uh, the entire movie."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Whatever, let's just go to bed. I'm beat." Bloo stood up, stretched, and then the two of them got up and started walking down the hallway.

They turned the corner and then Mac started talking to Bloo.

"So was the movie good?"

"Nah. Pretty stupid. They all run directly towards danger."

_Now who does that remind me of? _Mac thought, his eyes rolling up to the ceiling, a faint smile crossing his lips.

"You kept on leaning on me the whole entire movie. You know, if you were that tired, you could have just not watched it with us."

Mac glared. "I did say that I was tired, but you begged to watch this super-awesome-movie-that-was-apparently-not-awesome with you."

"…I don't recall begging you."

"You don't recall a lot of things Bloo."

They then arrived outside of Mac's room, and Mac headed inside, and removed his shirt and started to change into his pajamas. When he turned around, he jumped, surprised, to see that Bloo was still standing there.

"Remember when we used to sleep in the same room when we were kids?" Bloo smiled. "We should do that again sometime. That would be fun."

Mac's face got all hot and he hung his head so that Bloo couldn't see him. "Y-yeah, maybe sometime. Now I'm really tired so—"

"'Night, Mac," Bloo quipped, and then left.

Mac headed into the bathroom across the hall, brushed his teeth and then trudged back to his room and shut the door. He opened the small little window at the top of the wall that hung over his bed, before plopping down. He snuggled down underneath the sheets, and when he fell asleep that night, he could feel Bloo's warmth burning slightly on his left side.

The next day, Mac's thoughts were riddled with thoughts of his friend today as he assisted Frankie in changing the sheets on the bed. His train of thought was most likely caused by the odd, enticing dreams he had had last night. Whenever he thought about them, a blush rose to his cheeks, and then he'd shake it off, trying to refocus his attention on the task at hand.

"Hey, Frankie," Mac said, tucking in the bed's cover over the upper right corner, "can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." Frankie straightened out her corner opposite Mac's.

"Well… um… have there ever been any… imaginary friend couples?"

Frankie's head shot up and she arched a brow, confused. Mac blinked, and he swallowed, seeing that she didn't find this funny at all. The look that was in her eyes was more of confusion and perhaps disgust. It was an odd look to see on Frankie's face, and it was not a look that suited her pretty face.

"Um, no," Frankie said, lowering her head as she moved to the lower corner on her side. "No, not to my knowledge."

"Really? Because, you'd think—"

"—Well Mac, imaginary friends aren't really supposed to be used for that kind of thing. I mean, if they are, it's generally not consensual. Frankly, from what I've seen over the years from abused imaginary friends, it's gross to think of the idea." She shuddered at the thought.

Mac felt his heart sink. So it wasn't okay. He just thought that it was an odd occurrence, not that it wasn't accepted. He hung his head and bent over, picking up a sheet and cracking it. He lifted it up in the air and Frankie grabbed onto it and they pulled it down.

"But if you're really curious about that kind of thing," Frankie said in a lighter tone, "you can talk to my grandma about it. She's totally seen a lot more than I have."

Mac nodded but said nothing through the rest of the time that he had with Frankie. For an hour he did the laundry and then finally, worked up the courage to approach Madame Foster's room. She was sitting there, croqueting some sort of garment—she had just started on the project by the looks of it—and rocking back and forth in her chair.

"Madame Foster?"

The woman raised her head and her pupils grew in size through her round glasses. She emitted a giggle and set down her work on her lap.

"Yes, Mac?" she asked him.

Mac cautiously stepped into the room. "So, um, I was just, um… thinking, and I realized, I have never really known any imaginary friend couples. Do they… do they exist?"

Her smile had faded and her mouth was now set in a thoughtful line. "Well that's a weird train of thought you've got going there, sonny."

_If she had only seen what I had dreamt about last night, she would be horrified. _Mac thought a little guiltily as he waited patiently for Madame Foster's response.

"Well what an odd question," she said, clicking her tongue against her teeth, her hands returning to her work. "But who is to say that there aren't any persons that fall in love with their friends and vice versa?... I've never known any personally."

"Is it accepted?"

She pursed her lips together, hesitated, and then answered, "I don't believe so… not in the general public, no…" she smiled then, strangely. "But, I think that it should be okay. I mean, if it works for them, who are we to judge?"

She stood up and walked over to the window and feebly pulled open her curtains a little more, allowing more light into the room. "You know, Mac, when you're young, and you know about the birds and the bees and you want to fall in love… You look for it in all the places that you can find it. You keep your eyes open, because you don't want to miss that person that could potentially be the person for you."

She tucked the rope she used to pull the curtains behind a hook and looked over her shoulder at Mac. "Sometimes, that person is right in front of you, where they always have been."

Mac swallowed, trying to concentrate on what she was saying.

"But a frequent problem that happens is that you second guess yourself and never go for it while you have got the chance. So you let him…" she sighed heavily. "You let him slip through your fingers, and you get yourself hurt without ever letting anything happen… and then you try to move on, but you're always going to wonder why."

She smiled sadly, shook her head, and returned to her rocking chair. "I wish that he had fought for me when I met him…"

For a minute she croqueted, forgetting about Mac, and then she looked up. She leaned forward a little.

"Did that answer your question?"

Mac nodded, slightly solemn. "Yes, Madame Foster. That answered my question."

He then approached the table by her rocking chair and grabbed an empty tea cup and left the room.

_So,_ Mac thought_, if it exists, it's really private… but it can work. I just have to… I just have to man up and do something about this… _

He looked up and saw that Bloo was heading down the hallway towards him. Mac's heart rate picked up slightly as it usually did.

"Hey, Bloo," he called out to him.

"Hey, Mac."

Suddenly an image flashed through Mac's eyes.

_Bloo's eyelids lowered seductively, as if surveying what laid in front of him. Mac saw him lean in, and felt a soft pressure on his ear, biting down, making him feel rushed without even having to move…_

Mac's face burned bright red as he tried to move the following images out of his mind. Why did he have to dream about something so embarrassing? So descriptive? Why was he remembering all of it?

"Uh, Mac, are you okay?" Bloo waved a hand in front of his face. "The gang and I were going to go play softball today, but if you're too busy _working _like a _lame-o _then I guess we'll go on without you."

"Um… Y-yeah," Mac muttered, averting his eyes. If he spent anymore time around Bloo, it was bound to get even more awkward than it already was right now for him. "I've got… things to do."

The next part he said rather hastily: "AlrightBlooseeyoulaterbye!"

He picked up his pace close to a jogging speed as he turned down the hallway and out of sight. Bloo stood there, confused, his head tilted to one side.

"Mac's acting really funny lately," Bloo murmured, slowly backing up without turning. "Really funny."

He then continued down the hallway towards the stairway that would take him to the closest exit of the house.


	4. Chapter 4: My Crush

_Hello hello! n_n I've received a couple of positive, helpful reviews. To those people, I thank you and hope to hear from you again in the future. This story is far from over… and this chapter in a way, is the end of part one. So hopefully this is a delightful treat. R&R please._

**Chapter Four**

Bloo was taking into account Mac's suspicious behavior ever since that day. Mac was distancing himself from Bloo, but when he was around Bloo, he seemed a little clingy. At dinner Mac was always sure to sit directly next to Bloo, talked to him a lot, listened to what he was saying… But when Mac and Bloo were alone, with no one in sight, Mac just seemed to want to get away from him. He seemed awkward and nervous and a little bit tongue tied, which wasn't like Mac at all.

Bloo was starting to get a little ticked at Mac's on again-off again behavior. He couldn't just grasp what was wrong with Mac, who was normally so cool and calm and collected.

"More pasta salad, Bloo?" Mac's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh yeah," Bloo said, grabbing the ceramic bowl from him. He set it down and scooped out about a third of what was left onto his plate.

"I'm sorry Bloo, but can't you share with the rest of us?" Wilt grumbled, now taking it to hand over to Eduardo.

"Yeah, _Azul_," Eduardo added, peering into the bowl with a disappointed look on his face.

"What can I say? Frankie really outdoes herself when she makes this," Bloo answered, shoveling a forkful of the pasta into his mouth.

He glanced over towards Mac, who was pushing the corn on his plate around with a dulled look in his eyes, his chin propped up on his hand lazily.

"Hey, Mac, did you want some?"

"What?" Mac's head shot up and he blinked. "Oh… No… I'm good, thanks, Bloo."

"You've barely eaten anything," Bloo commented. "You had like, a burger."

"Cococococococo," Coco said from where she sat at the end, next to Eduardo. Her eyes looked a little concerned.

"Yeah, Coco is right," Wilt admitted, glancing at Mac. "You haven't been eating much lately."

"He's watching his girlish figure," Bloo snickered, drinking his soda.

Mac sighed, running a hand through his hair that was messy from the stressful events of the day. "Sorry…"

Bloo swallowed and touched Mac's shoulder reassuringly. "Hey, no problem. Do you want to go play in the arcade afterwards?"

"Uh… I don't really feel up to it."

Bloo's eyelids slumped, a sign of irritation. "You don't really feel up to a lot of things anymore."

Mac bit his lip and shrugged his shoulders, then stood up and carried his dishes over to a cart that held all the dirty dishes and dumped them there. He then left without looking back at them. Bloo glared, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and stood up and followed him without taking his dishes with him.

"Oh boy," Wilt sighed heavily, glancing at the dishes and quickly piling them on top of his own. "This doesn't seem like it's going to go very well…"

Mac turned down a corner on the second floor of the house.

_The dreams are getting more intense. _He fought the urge to shudder. _I can feel him touch me in my dreams and if he ever touches me in reality, it feels the same, it makes me… This is bad. There's something wrong with me. _

He hoped that Bloo could hold off a little longer till he could confess his feelings. Mac knew that inevitably, he was going to be rejected. But while it was inevitable, he still wanted to avoid the hurt.

"Mac!"

Mac whipped around to face Bloo, who had his hands clenched into fists as he stomped down the hallway towards him. Mac crossed his arms.

"What?"

"'What?' What do you mean, 'what?'" Bloo shouted at Mac, furious. "What is going on with _you _lately?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"One minute you're avoiding me and the next you're right next to me—I don't get it!"

Mac swallowed. Bloo fixed an eye on him and crossed his arms sternly, to make Mac's stance.

"I know I didn't do anything wrong because I haven't been getting in trouble lately."

"I have a crush on you." Mac mumbled, averting his eyes.

Bloo tilted his head to one side, eyes bugged out. "W-what? What do you mean, 'crush?' You mean like… like…"

"Yeah." Mac lifted his head to meet Bloo's eyes with a steely gaze.

"You mean… you're… gay?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"B-but… Whoa…" Bloo leaned against the wall, his mind obviously blown. "Does that mean that you like k-kissing and stuff with me? A-And dates and whatever?"

"That's what it means to be with someone, Bloo," Mac responded gently, looking kind of hurt, even though Bloo hadn't refused him yet.

There was a long silence. Mac sort of hung his head, shoved his hands in his pockets. Bloo just stood there, a little stupidly, shaking his head. He averted Mac's watchful eyes. For some reason, he wasn't too angry—he felt like he should've been more angry, but instead he felt… flattered. Yet still, he preceded to react oppositely.

"Mac, how long has this been going on?" Bloo snapped, looking at him.

"Since… since… I don't…"

"Yes, you do. Don't pull that crap on me."

"Maybe around the time when we had that big party weekend up on campus?"

"Oh. Well, Mac," Bloo laughed, shaking his head, "you'd just gotten over a breakup. You're emotionally frustrated and angst-y. And yeah, we did… we did kiss, but that doesn't mean—"

"—Bloo, you're not me, so don't try to tell me how I feel about you." Mac retorted, his tone heated. "I like you."

Bloo was stumped. He couldn't even resist Mac when he suddenly grabbed him and pulled him close, and planted a slow, deep kiss on his lips. Mac drew all the breath out of his body in a sharp instant, and Mac's eyes looked seductively back at Bloo for a moment, wanting more. Then the moment was over, and Mac pulled away, now looking redder in the face than he had ever been.

"…See. I proved it."

Bloo touched a fingerless hand to his mouth and felt that it was tingling rather excitedly. Mac was backing up a little, nervous.

"I-I'm sorry."

"No, Mac, look, its fine," he said, grabbing his hand.

Bloo this time took the initiative, and kissed Mac back, with a little more passion in his kiss, bringing them both this crazy crackling kind of energy that neither of them had ever experienced before.

"I… I like you too." Bloo murmured, smiling at Mac softly.

And so, what seemed to both of them like a fun little romance was going to grow to be something much greater.


	5. Chapter 5: Trouble's a brewin'

_Hey! So remember what I said about how the last chapter could be considered the end of Part 1 or something such as that? Well, actually its not. -.- I read a little further into the draft on this and I realized I had actually put a page marker in for part two, which is coming up really soon. This chapter contains more problematic things that are occurring as these two are just starting out on their relationship. As always, thank you and please read and review. _

**Chapter Five**

As summer was finally starting to kick in, things were kicking up with Mac and Bloo's romance. Mac found that Bloo was more into this than he had thought, and in their private moments, was met with a kiss to the lips that seemed to never end. Mac loved it when Bloo wrapped his arms around his waist, and felt oddly strong as he pulled Mac closer to him. These were moments that Mac wanted time to stop, so that no one would come across them, so that they'd be there forever.

But it couldn't last—exposure would mean scrutiny for sure. So Mac would be the one to break off, give a little kiss, and then make promises for later. So far, they had been careful. When they had their encounters, they listened for footsteps of imaginary friends, and triple checked the hallways. Mac worried and partially knew that sooner or later, they would be caught. But it was wonderful right now…

As for Bloo, his growing attraction to Mac was really electrifying. Every time he touched Mac, he felt his pulse quicken, like chemicals were being released in his brain, and it was awesome. He was noticing things about Mac that he had never acknowledged before, and was appreciating them. For example, Mac had developed a sort of sexy body. He wasn't super skinny, and from a couple of workouts on the campus gym, he was slightly muscular. The smile that seemed to always be there, except when Mac was pissed at something… usually him.

One day, Bloo was wandering the hallways, looking for where Mac was, and entered the laundry room. The wall of washing machines and drying machines all swirled around dizzily and the countertops were riddled with baskets, boxes of detergent and dryer sheets, and impossibly large containers of bleach and stain removers.

He spotted Mac bending over to reach into a dryer, pulling out clean and fresh bed sheets. Bloo approached Mac, and when Mac turned around, Bloo leaned in for a kiss.

"Bloo!" Mac hissed, his eyes widening. "What are you doing?"

"Uh, kissing you." Bloo rolled his eyes. "Duh."

"Y-You can't do that right here right now," Mac mumbled, picking up the basket of clothes. "What if someone sees us?"

"Huh."

Bloo took a sheet off of the laundry basket and threw it over their heads. Mac peered at Bloo from underneath the sheet. Bloo leaned in, and Mac, smiling, leaned in as well. Their lips met in a pleasant kiss.

Mac chuckled as Bloo tried to push the cover off of their heads. He struggled for about two minutes with it.

"What is _with _this thing?" Bloo cried out in frustration. "Why is it so big!"

"Because the bed it goes on is for a pretty big imaginary friend."

Bloo accidentally bumped into Mac and the two of them fell over. The sheets spilled all over the linoleum tiles. Mac clenched his teeth from the pain of banging his shin against the floor, and found that Bloo was half lying on top of him. Mac looked into the doorway and saw a figure standing there.

"Bloo! Bloo, get off of me!" he frantically shoved him away and gathered up the sheets, keeping his head down.

Bloo grinned and put his arms behind his head, pleased with himself.

"Uh… I'm sorry, but Mac, do you want some help?"

Mac winced at the sound of Wilt's voice, and realized that it was Wilt who had probably seen them together. He was pale now, and Bloo looked really nervous too, noticing that he had been there.

The gangly red friend tilted his head to one side, his bad eye rattling as he did so. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing," Mac said, getting up with the basket. "And I'm good, Wilt, thanks."

He cast Bloo a warning look as he hastily left the room. Bloo crossed his arms.

_Great. What had been a great moment now apparently is ruined because of stupid Wilt. _Bloo sighed in aggravation and turned and passed Wilt.

"Are you and Mac still fighting?" Wilt asked, following Bloo down the hallway. "You're both kind of avoiding the rest of us. Is that okay to ask, or…?"

"No, Wilt, it's not okay to ask," Bloo responded.

"Oh. Okay, I'm sorry… I was just wondering. I hope the two of you make up soon. You don't want me to talk to him for you?"

Bloo walked away without a response.

Now, Bloo and Mac lay side by side on the tiny bed in Mac's room, staring up at the ceiling. It was after dinner, and after a small make-out session, the both of them were now taking a moment to relax.

"That was close today, Bloo. We have to be more careful," Mac said, glancing over at him.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. He didn't find out anything, did he?" Bloo propped himself up on one side and stared down at Mac. He grinned. "Besides, you enjoyed it."

Mac rolled his eyes and then gave Bloo a little affectionate kiss. "I did." He placed both his hands on either side of Bloo's face. "But I want this to last as long as it possibly can, Bloo. You know people aren't going to be okay with this."

"What, because we're gay?"

"Um… You've noticed you're not human, right?"

"Well duh."

"I think that's the worst of it."

"Mac, Mac, Mac, you've got to relax," Bloo said, lying back down beside him. "If you keep worrying about everything, _everybody _will know something's wrong."

Mac knew that Bloo was right, but it kind of irked him at the few moments when Bloo was right. Pretty soon they were drawn in by each other again and they were kissing. Mac couldn't help but let out a little moan when he felt Bloo's lips on his neck. A shudder trickled down his spine and left this fuzzy feeling in his brain. For a fleeting moment, he worried that he might be pushed to go farther, but when that passed, he had desire in the pit of his stomach, crouched like a tiger ready to attack.

"Senor Mac? I'm looking for Senorita Floppy Ears, have you seen her—" Eduardo opened the door and entered the room.

Mac and Bloo gaped in horror and Ed stared at the two of them with a questioning, dumbstruck look on his face. Then he took in everything… Bloo was leaning over Mac, Mac's face was red, both of them were lying on a bed… and recognition spread across his face.

He turned and wordlessly ran from the room, and down the hallway they could hear him screaming out for Wilt.

Wilt was off on the basketball court outside, and Coco was sitting off to the side, watching with a slightly interested look on her face.

Eduardo threw open the back door to Foster's and ran out in front of Wilt, who was bounding forward to slam dunk into the basket. He stomped down and screeched to a halt when Eduardo intersected him.

"Ed!" Wilt steadied himself by placing a hand on Eduardo's shoulder. "Jeez! What is it? What's wrong?"

"I-I went to ask Senor M-Mac to see if he had seen Senorita Floppyears and I saw Azul in there too, and they were kissing!"

Wilt dropped the ball and it bounced off to the side. Coco gave a disbelieving look.

"Cocococococococo?"

"Si, they were in Mac's room! And Mac looked red and both of them had big loco eyes when they saw me standing there!"

"But Ed, I'm sorry; this just doesn't make sense to me. I thought that they were fighting?"

"Cococococo," Coco responded, rolling her eyes.

"Obviously not…? Coco what are you talking about?"

Coco gave a little sigh and ruffled her wings and stood up, padding over to them. "Cococococococo, cococo." She explained slowly.

"You're saying they've been avoiding us because they're together?"

"Cocococococo."

"I get that they would want to keep this a secret from us…" Wilt cast a look towards Ed. "But if it's true, I mean, they're our friends. We should accept them for who they are, shouldn't we?"

"Coco." Coco smiled, nodding.

Ed gave them a skeptical look, a clawed paw to his mouth. "No. Es is weird."

"Eduardo, come on. We should try to find them and work this out with them," Wilt said encouragingly, setting the ball by the hoop. All three of them proceeded to enter the house together.

"Well, our lives are officially over, but other than that, it was a nice run, right?" Bloo asked Mac from where he was standing by the window.

"What, we're calling it quits? Since when?" Mac turned to face him.

Bloo shrugged. "I don't know. I figured since Ed walked in on us you'd want to."

"Well I don't. I'm not willing to give up just yet," Mac replied coolly. "Are you?"

"No." Bloo answered firmly, setting his gaze on Mac. "If you aren't, I'm not."

Mac smiled for a moment, and then the door opened. Wilt shuffled in as did Coco, and Eduardo hung in the doorway. The two of them then put on serious, stone faces and waited for their friends to say something.

Wilt felt awkward. "So, Eduardo said that he saw you two…um, kissing. And me and Coco didn't believe it at first, so we wanted to ask about it."

Wilt glanced from Mac to Bloo and repeated it once more. "Are you two… together?"

"Depends on what you mean by together." Bloo responded sharply.

Wilt turned his attention to Mac. "You know… is Bloo your boyfriend?"

Mac swallowed. This was the first time that he would actually have to call Bloo his boyfriend. But he remained brave, and nodded.

"Yes. Bloo and I are dating," Mac said, and with a slightly trembling hand, took Bloo's hand with his.

Wilt exhaled shakily, not exactly relieved, but as if to take this in. "Uh, okay, okay, no problem. This isn't a big deal. We just wanted to let you guys know, that um… we're cool with it."

Bloo and Mac's faces were blank, and they blinked at them. Wilt and Coco stood there, reassuringly, the genuine smiles plastered on their faces not fading, not twitching.

"Seriously?" Bloo asked.

"Yeah… We're happy for you," Wilt said, "no matter how fast this happened."

He shot a look towards Ed. "Right, Eduardo?"

"Si," Eduardo said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Um… okay, cool," Mac said, laughing.

"And I'm sure the others would be too—"

"_No!_" Mac and Bloo shouted at the same time, waving their arms in the air.

Eduardo frowned. "So… we can't tell Frankie?"

"Especially not Frankie. She thinks its weird."

"Oh, that's not true," Eduardo said, waving Mac's comment off. "Frankie is muy, muy bueno with everything."

Mac said in a low voice, "No, Ed. She's not muy bueno with everything. She thinks it's… well, abusive. You know, there's imaginary friends that come in here occasionally that have had… issues with their creators?"

"Oh."

"And Bloo and I don't exactly want to be confronted on this again," Mac said, "because we're trying to keep this as quiet as possible. Okay?"

"Ok," the three of them echoed back (except for Coco of course.)

Then one of them suggested that they go outside and play a round of basketball. They all headed outside, and then played a game with plenty of laughter, jeering and cheering like nothing had changed.


	6. Chapter 6: Fire and Drowning in Desire

_ Hey everyone. So, this next chapter gets a little heated up (in more ways than one, I suppose), but I should have still kept it down to a teen/older teen rating. I mean, it could totally be worse. After this, the story is going to develop a bit more of a plot line, so if you thought it was a bit boring and pointless before, it should be picking up pretty quickly. Anyways, thank you, and please read and review. _

**Chapter Six**

Bloo sat on one of the chaise lounges off to the side of the pool and watched Mac clean it while he was sipping from a smoothie.

Mac leaned the long pole of the pole vacuum further into the water, precariously perched on the end of the diving board. Bloo couldn't help but laugh or snicker every time that Mac almost tripped and fell in.

Mac shot an ugly look his way the fifth time it happened. "It's not funny."

"Maybe you should just clean the pool… _in _the pool. You ever think about that?"

"Bloo, I can't. It'll kick up all the dirt and stuff." Mac sighed heavily and then left the pole to lean against the side as he went to shut it off.

He removed the pole and the long tubes that were connected to it and set it in a box by the fence. When he returned, he placed his hands on his hips and looked at Bloo with a smile.

"Are we going swimming?"

"You bet," Bloo said, killing off his smoothie and then made a cannon ball into the water.

The splash from his impact soaked Mac instantly. Mac rolled his eyes, shaking out his hair. He jumped in the pool after him and splashed Bloo in the face.

"Agh!" Bloo cried out, feeling teensy droplets of chlorinated water sting his eyes.

"Bloo!" Mac's hands flew to his mouth and he swam over to Bloo to assist him.

He grabbed Bloo's head with one hand on either side of his face, and crooned, "Where does it hurt, honey?"

"I just got—_blbublblbublblblblub_!" Mac dunked him underwater.

Mac grinned impishly and fist pumped the air a little bit as he swam away. Bloo popped back up from underneath and glared.

"I knew that was going to happen."

"Right," Mac rolled his eyes, still grinning. "Sure you did."

Bloo swam over next to him and they waded underneath the diving board at the deeper end of the pool. Quietly they sat there, not saying anything.

"Hey, Mac," Bloo said, "you'll be back for Christmas, right?"

"Christmas?"

"Yeah. You weren't last year, because your mom couldn't afford to have a plane ticket for you to come home."

"I'm trying to save up my money," Mac murmured. "I do want to come home for Christmas… It's been a long time since I've joined in a Christmas at Foster's. Why are you asking, anyways?'

"Because I thought of a great Christmas present to get you," Bloo stuck out his tongue in response.

They were silent for a little while longer. In the background they could hear the voices of several imaginary friends running around on the lawn playing games, and inside the house, they could hear Frankie screeching at Mr. Herriman that she was coming to wherever he was at.

Bloo leaned across and kissed Mac, using one blobby arm to deflect their faces in case anyone was going to see them.

"Hey, Mac," Bloo mumbled. "I've been thinking."

"Yeah?"

"I want to take it to the next level with you," Bloo admitted frankly, his gaze not faltering, his blue face not blushing from saying these words. "You know. Because I'm sure you've been there already."

"Uh huh huh huh, hmm…" Mac uttered a sound that was strangled between a laugh and a cough, licking his lips and glancing away.

"Well? I want to learn."

"You… But you… Um…"

"What?"

"You don't have the um…"

Bloo tilted his head to one side. "I think I know what you're saying, and I do. I'm a boy, duh."

"Oh. You do?"

"After all those years of living together when we were little, you thought that I didn't?"

"Well… I just…" Mac stammered, flustered.

Bloo grinned. "Jeez, I push all your buttons don't I? Look, I'll figure out what we need and what I have to do and we'll get to it, okay?"

Mac nodded, biting his lip. He watched as Bloo swam away to go get a juice box from the kitchen and realized Bloo didn't even ask him what he wanted. Mac exhaled, letting his head roll back onto his shoulders. He watched the white clouds drift by.

Was he ready for this? When had this become more than just a crush? Was it wrong to sleep with Bloo when he didn't even know if he loved him yet?

Mac felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized this. He didn't even know if he loved Bloo. Was he ready to give up his virginity to him? Wasn't that just careless and stupid?

He saw Bloo return from the kitchen without a juice box in hand. He had probably drank it already on the way back.

"Bloo, can I talk to you about something?"

Mac swam over to where Bloo was entering the water.

"I… I don't know if I want to do that with you yet," Mac murmured, his gaze serious. "I don't want to go too fast, please. I just…"

Bloo was confused. "Mac, wouldn't it make things better?"

"N-no, not necessarily. I'm not experienced with that kind of thing yet. And I want to be sure that I… You know, love you first, before I fully commit."

Bloo didn't say anything. Mac felt incredibly anxious.

"I'm sorry, if you love me already, but I…"

"Mac its fine."

"Really?" Mac was surprised.

"Yeah."Bloo smiled. "I'll just figure it out for the future."

Mac felt warmth rising up inside of him, and if he didn't enact self control, he might have kissed Bloo passionately right then and there and not stopped.

The reason why he was so happy wasn't just because Bloo had listened to him; it was because that Bloo thought that they would have a future together.

A serious relationship was quite a strange and scary thing. The more serious a relationship becomes, the harder the breakup will be. It was just a general fact that proved to be true most of the time.

Mac and Bloo had never been in a serious relationship before with anyone. When Mac had dated Goo, it was because she liked him and had for a long time. And Mac had liked being around Goo, she was fun. But after a while she got annoying to be around so much and Mac got to be too boring for her… So they had mutually agreed to break up.

Goo was now doing more exciting things than spend time at Foster's, such as being a camp counselor and writing fantastically fabricated stories that were often published in magazines, and dating this oddly hot guy.

Mac's second relationship was with Jenny, and the same thing happened that had happened with Goo: she liked him first, but while Jenny was okay to be around, she was more of a bully who kind of wormed her way in there and just stayed there. Mac had kissed her, made out with her, but didn't bother to really take things too far. He felt that Jenny deserved better, and also…

He deserved better than some girl that was prone to screaming.

Bloo was the best he had gotten so far. Bloo had subtly toned down his overpowering personality. He was nice and fun and knew how to excite him. Being with Bloo was easy; it was a natural thing to do. He didn't have to force smiles, he didn't have to pretend to enjoy anything or watch what he said. They had been around each other so much that it didn't even matter. They clicked, and clicked very smoothly.

The summer wore on effortlessly. Mac didn't even cringe at the fact that the days were slipping by so freely. He spent all his days working at Foster's, hanging out with his friends, and then at night, snuggling with Bloo. He would go to bed exhausted and his mind racing and in the next morning wake up and be instantly refreshed and up for another round of shenanigans.

He kept in contact with his mom, but always said that he was busy, so he didn't visit her often. Only on the weekends, when he actually did have a scheduled day off, did he take the walk down to the apartments to see her. And even when he was there she didn't seem to really care that he was there.

It was sometime in early to mid August that he went to see her that his mother's crabby attitude had finally pushed enough of his buttons to drive him to the point of anger.

He walked there on a Sunday morning, and oddly enough for an August day it was cool and crisp. He headed up the steps and entered through the door that his mother had left often. He took off his shoes on the front door rug and shuffled in. His mom's office door was wide open, and inside Mac could see the chaos of her work: papers everywhere, computer screen brightly shining out, cords crossing haphazardly across the ground in front of the rolling chair.

"Mom?" he called out, glancing in through the little window that viewed into the kitchen.

"I'm in here," she called from down the hall to the right. Her bedroom.

Mac headed down to the bedroom and found that she was folding and hanging up her professional suits in her walk in closet.

"Hey, Mom."

"How've you been?" she asked, setting the laundry basket on the ground and fluffing up her flattened pillows.

"I'm been okay, I guess."

She set one eye on him. "What does that mean, 'okay?'"

"Just, okay, Mom. I've been good." Mac said.

"Yeah? You look awfully tired, sweetheart." She pointed to his face. "Look at those dark circles under your eyes. Have you been working too hard?"

"No, Mom, I've been doing fine. I mean, Frankie handles the other half of the work anyways."

His mother just shrugged her shoulders and her eyes got all big like she was getting herself worked up over something. Mac knew right then that today's visit was not going to go well at all.

"Mom? What's wrong?"

"I don't really like you working at Foster's."

"What?" Mac was irritated now. "Why?"

"Because it's like this is a loophole just so you get to see Bloo again," she snapped, placing her hands on her hips. "And whenever you come over you always talk about how much fun you're having and whatever."

"Because I am," Mac said firmly. "Is that wrong?"

"No."

"I don't know what you want from me," Mac grumbled underneath his breath so that she couldn't hear.

She seemed to have noticed that he said something, because now she stopped fluffing up her pillows and was facing him now. Confronting him.

"Mac, honey, you're so smart. You don't have to work at Foster's. It's a low grade job: you're a maid, dear, face it. Just because they give it higher pay and label you as a 'caretaker' doesn't mean you're not. I hope that this isn't just about Bloo…"

"This _isn't _about Bloo!" Mac was surprised to hear that he was yelling at her now. "And even if it was, why can't you just let me do what I want?"

He brought his hand on top of his other palm down repeatedly. "Mom, I'm not doing drugs, I'm not partying every night—just leave me alone, please! Terrence got to do whatever the heck he wanted, and look where he ended up!"

"Mac," she was now yelling back at him, "that is no way to talk to your mother!"

Mac grabbed his head, now starting to overdose on his stress. He struggled to maintain his calm. He didn't need to say anything more and he wasn't eager to. He just turned and left. And even when his mother yelled at him to come back, instead of turning around and going back, he just kept on going and ignored her.

Mac walked hastily at first, and then he started to jog, then that quickly turned into a sprint, and he kept that pace up all the way back to Foster's. He hardly even stopped when he entered the door, didn't kick his shoes off; he just wanted to find Bloo.

Bloo was being his usual lazy self, lounging on his bed while he was playing on his handheld gaming system, when Mac skidded into his doorway. His eyebrows rose, and he took in Mac's disheveled appearance—his windswept hair and red face, heaving chest that tried to fix his irregular breathing.

"Mac, buddy, are you okay?" Bloo got up and headed over to him.

Mac shut the door behind him. "It's my Mom."

"What's wrong?"

"She brought up _again _about how she doesn't like me working at Foster's," Mac hissed underneath his breath. "I was sick of hearing it so I just left."

"Oh Mac that's not good."

Mac retorted harshly, "What can she do? I'm eighteen, and I'm not even under her roof."

"But she's your _mom_," Bloo protested. "I wouldn't advise pissing her off."

"I don't want your advice," Mac hissed, aggravated.

"Then what do you want?"

Mac threw his arms around Bloo's neck and then hungrily kissed him, soaking him up. Bloo lifted up Mac's windbreaker slightly so that he could rest his hands on the small of Mac's back. Mac shivered at his touch and the two of them looked at each other intensely.

_More. _

They kept up this ravenous matter of kisses, and Bloo started to try to back Mac up towards the window. Fumbling for the strings he tried to draw the blinds while returning Mac's kisses, which was apparently more difficult than he had thought it would be. The blinds came crashing clumsily down over the window, rattling as it hit the surface of the glass.

Bloo took Mac and then forcefully pushed him down on the bed. He slowly slid on top of him as all the images and all the words from those random websites came flashing through his mind. Mac placed his hands on Bloo's shoulders, and thought, _This is it. _

_I'm finally ready. _

When Mac glanced at the clock he was amazed to see that only ten minutes had passed. It felt like it had either been shorter or longer than that—eternal, but yet too short an eternity.

He held Bloo's hand and Bloo threw a blanket over him. Bloo gave his lover's hand a gentle squeeze. Mac smiled, his eyes glossy, shimmering with joy and overfilled with love…

"Bloo. I love you."

Bloo smiled. "Me too."

They kissed, once, twice, and then Mac winced.

"O…Ow…" he groaned, laughing a little as he rolled onto his back again. "Crap, it's over."

"You'll get better at it."

Mac arched a brow. "Excuse me? What about you?"

"I'm perfect enough as it is," Bloo responded with a grin, and he whispered into his ear, "And I think you agreed with me, Mac."

Mac was bashful. He gasped slightly as Bloo's teeth slowly bit together on his ear lobe. He kissed Bloo in return and snuggled close to him.

"You locked the door right?"

"Of course I did."

"Good." Mac murmured, closing his eyes. "I don't want… I don't want to have to leave right now.


	7. Chapter 7: Still Strong

_So, hope that none of you mind, but I jumped forward roughly three years to when Mac graduates from college. Surprise! R&R and thanks. _

**Chapter Seven**

It was three years later now, and the summer was still as hot as it had been the first year that Mac had started dating Bloo. The secret kisses, the calls and texts back and forth when it seemed like they were on opposite sides of the world, the luscious and fun filled nights spent in Mac's bedroom, dorm room, or whatever unoccupied crook of the house that was unused; stolen away, wonderful, magical…

Mac was truly head over heels now at this point, and didn't think that it would ever end. Such is the thought after so many pleasant years. He had graduated now, and had accepted a professional job working for the city downtown, specializing in the ethical treatment and legal representation of imaginary friends—more specifically, abuse cases.

At his graduation, he had done the walk in his cap and gown and had gone up to receive his degree, rolled up in a scroll, wrapped with a black ribbon. His mother had squealed and jumped up and down, and even Terrence had been there (he spent most of the time ditching them and flirting with random girls) and there had been many a picture to commemorate the event.

Now that Mac was back, working at Foster's on weekends and living there till he could find an apartment, Bloo was quite irritated. He was angry at himself and a little bit at Mac for not being able to attend his graduation (he had attended his high school graduation only because he broke into the ceremony) and was worried about Mac's post-graduation plans… He had just simply smiled and changed the conversation when Mac had told him about his job acceptance.

Mac and Bloo now were walking around Foster's grounds, using the steep rocky little paths that were mostly unused. They had found these paths around Christmas break Mac's sophomore year in college, and ever since, it was one of their common activities.

This was the only time that Mac and Bloo ever held hands, on these walks along the trail. They chatted freely, talking mainly about what had been going on with the other friends. These past few years, a few friends had been adopted: even one of their own. Coco had been taken in by a sweet little girl that wanted to be a zoologist when she grew up. Coco often sent them postcards, about once monthly, from the house that she lived on way out in the middle of nowhere. They were all incredibly hard to translate because all she ever wrote in them was "Coco" and since it was words and not her voice, they didn't really know what was going on too much of the time.

"I'm so excited that we're going to be living in the city now!" Mac burst out suddenly, his eyes shimmering. "Wow. This is just great."

"You mean you are," Bloo grumbled, releasing Mac's hand and walking ahead.

Mac shoved his hands into the pockets of his denim cut off shorts and stared at Bloo, surprised at his behavior. Bloo pushed aside an overgrown branch and allowed Mac to proceed.

"What do you mean, I am?"

"Well duh, you're not going to take me with you."

Mac bit his lip. "But I am."

"No you're not."

"Yes, I am!" Mac snapped, whipping around to face his boyfriend.

"What about your mother, Mac?"

Mac stopped, stumped. "Well… I mean…"

"It's not like she's _never _going to visit your apartment. And even if I go out for a while, she'll know someone else is living there with you."

Mac scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… Wow…"

Then he shrugged his shoulders, and raised his head to look at Bloo.

"Hey. You know what? I'll tell her."

"You're going to tell her?" Bloo gaped, horrified. "Oh Mac, no, that's like the kiss of death for us!"

"She's not going to run my life, Bloo," Mac hissed in response, crossing his arms. "I'm taking you with me and that's that. I'm not leaving you here when I love you."

Mac blushed when he said this, he still did even after three years of saying it. He kicked at a clump of dirt that touched the white rim of his sneaker.

"I haven't figured out how to tell her yet, or how I'm going to get around her anger, but I know one thing. I know I want to be with you, Bloo. And I want to be with you for a long time."

Bloo smiled, came up, and kissed Mac's cheek. He felt Mac's fingers close around his hand, and Mac nudged him softly, affectionately in return. The two then continued to walk down through the woods, and their conversation went to what it was like before.


	8. Chapter 8: The Truth Comes Out

_Okay, I promise that this chapter is going to deliver on excitement. I mean dramatic excitement. And to CartoonFreak123—your review wasn't offensive at all. You provided constructive criticism and even though you didn't agree or understand the pairing, you still were able to put yourself in the place of me, in a way. XD I hope that I didn't freak you out or anything by making this statement, but in the future, your reviews are always welcome as long as they're fair and helpful. As are anyone else's! Thank you and please R&R._

**Chapter Eight **

Mac walked through the door of his mother's apartment, and hung up his rain jacket on a hook. The forecast for the day had reported light drizzles throughout the day before a big thunderstorm circled around them for that night.

But what Mac was going to tell his mother was going to be thousands of times worse than a thunderstorm.

He had avoided Bloo since this morning, getting up really early so that he could have breakfast with his mother and hopefully, she wasn't going to throw a cereal bowl at his head. Bloo had slept over in his room that night, so he grabbed a stack of postcards and wrote a little note on it, signing it with a heart in an attempt to be affectionate. He left it stuck to the nightstand and then he took off.

"Mom?" Mac slipped off his tennis shoes and set them by the door.

"Mac?" his mother shuffled out of the kitchen, holding a mug of coffee. She gave him a sweet smile. "Hey, honey. What do you want for breakfast?"

"Just some regular cereal will be fine." He headed into the kitchen and started grabbing bowls while his mom went for the milk in the fridge.

She hummed a little bit as she grabbed the cereal boxes as well. She was glad that Mac had been able to find a job so quickly—even more happy that she had actually raised a kid to graduate from college and become a decent member of society. Terrence had taken off for six months to try to find some work down south, maybe on a plantation or farm, and after coming up dry, he returned home and was now crashing on the couch. Mac could hear his older brother snoring loudly. He could sleep through anything.

Mac sat down with his mother and they quietly, pleasantly conversed over breakfast, talking about Mac's hunt for apartments, his present work and his future job. Mac hadn't spoken one word about Bloo. He kept his head down whenever he thought that his mother would bring up the subject.

They finished up breakfast when Terrence woke up and shuffled into the kitchen and opened the fridge door. Margaret, their mother, dabbed at her mouth with a napkin and regarded her other son with a cool arch of her eyebrows; a sideways glare.

"Your brother Mac is here." She announced to him the obvious.

"Hi, nerd," Terrence grumbled drowsily as he poured himself a glass of orange juice.

Mac rolled his eyes and then bit his lip. "Mom. I have to talk to you about something."

"Terrence, why are you opening a new carton of orange juice?"

"Jeez, Mom, can't a guy get himself a drink for breakfast?"

Mac swallowed, watching them. They were now going back and forth, bickering, and it was getting ready to explode.

"Mom, I've been going to Foster's ever since I was eight."

His mom halted, and her head whipped around to stare at him. "What did you say?"

He twiddled his thumbs. "I've been going to Foster's after school ever since I was eight, to see Bloo."

Margaret clenched her jaw, and carried the dishes into the kitchen. Mac heard them hit the sides of the sink with a crashing noise, so close to breaking.

"I figured as much," Margaret said, her voice raised, but not exactly yelling yet.

Mac turned his head and saw his brother Terrence leaning in the entryway of the kitchen. He had this smug smile on his face as he sipped from a glass of orange juice. His eyes, tiny, mean. Mac had to turn away it was so unnerving.

"Mom, that's not all." Mac stood up and pushed in his chair. He kept his head down, his voice calm, not shaking, as he spoke the next words. "I love him."

She stomped out of the kitchen, her eyes flared, confusion and anger now stark in her face. "What? What do you mean, you love him?"

"I mean…"

Terrence gaped. "You're a fag."

"Terrence, I am not!" Mac shot back. "There is nothing wrong with…"

"Whoa, _what?_" Mac's mother couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You mean… you're…?"

"You're getting screwed in the ass by your imaginary friend?" Terrence laughed hysterically, bending over and holding his stomach. "Oh my God, I knew you'd grow up to be a fag!"

Mac glared at Terrence, grinding his teeth. "Watch it, Terrence."

"Bloo is such a wuss though, honestly? How the hell can he—"

Mac launched himself at his brother, ready to claw his eyes out. He smacked Terrence's shoulders with fists, and the orange juice glass dropped to the ground.

"MAC! TERRENCE!" Margaret bellowed furiously.

Terrence let go of Mac, who he had grabbed by the collar of his t-shirt. Margaret glared at Mac, shaking her head in disappointment. Disapproval.

"Mac. You're not going to stand here and tell me that you're in love with something that I _told _you to give up a long time ago," she growled.

Mac stiffened, staring his mother down. "You should have known, Mom. I'd never give him up. I love him."

She gave him a blank look. "Get out."

"Fine."

"Get the hell out!" she screeched at him even though he was already headed for the door.

She marched after him and gave him a heavy thwack on the arm as he tried to pull on his coat.

"Don't you ever come back again," she snarled.

"That won't be a problem," he told her, pulling his hood over his head, and he walked away.

Along the way home, his legs kind of got a little shaky, but he was alright. He would be alright. He knew that when he got back to Foster's and headed into his bedroom, Bloo would still be there sleeping. Mac would be there when he woke up.


	9. Chapter 9: Together Alone At Last

_Okay, so this offsets the sort of crushing blow that was delivered last chapter. Enjoy. R&R please, and thanks!_

**Chapter Nine**

"So do you like it?"

Mac stretched out his arms like he had a wingspan and sort of circled around, his eyes taking in everything. The wallpaper was crusty at the top and sort of peeling, but everything was clean and it was a cheap place. The rooms were obviously small.

Mac turned and looked back at Bloo, nodding. "Yeah. I bought it already anyways."

Bloo sucked in air through clenched teeth. "Dang. Cause I really liked that condo."

"What condo?"

"You know…"

"…We didn't go in those condos, Bloo. We walked around outside of them."

"And they were absolutely amazing. _Free delivery _from the restaurant downstairs, Mac."

Mac laughed, came up and kissed the side of Bloo's face. They could hear their friends shuffling awkwardly outside of the closed front door.

"Let's haul in our stuff, okay, baby?"

They opened the front door and Wilt walked in balancing an impressive five boxes. Eduardo dragged in what he could and Mac went out and picked out a couple of things. Frankie walked in too, her hands in the pockets of her shorts, admiring the room.

They organized the boxes and set them in their designated rooms and then they began to unpack. Mac managed to get Bloo to help him out with putting all of the blankets and sheets on the one queen sized bed that they'd have to share. Frankie assisted and watched over clumsy Eduardo while they unpacked and Wilt cleaned what needed to be cleaned.

The whole move in probably took around three hours and by the time that they were done, it was around early evening. Mac called up for a pizza delivery and they all sat in front of the television at the round kitchen table and watched the local channels. Finally when they were done, Mac and Bloo walked over to the door, escorting their friends, and said goodbye. The two then wandered over to the window and watched from the street as the Foster's bus pulled out and drove away down the street.

"We're alone now," Bloo announced.

"Yep."

"And in our own apartment."

"Why are we not screwing in every place that it's possible to screw in?"

Mac snorted and walked into the bedroom. He pulled off his clothes and changed into his pajamas.

"I'm too tired," he said without turning around to look. "I'd love to commemorate our big move in to our first place by screwing in the shower stall, but we've been up since six in the morning."

"Don't tell me you're getting bored with me." Bloo grinned, walking over to the bed and climbing in beside him.

Mac spread out his limbs and gave a good stretch. It was so much better to share a bed in a queen than in a twin. It drove him crazy to not be able to have a blanket over him while he slept, and the body heat from both him and Bloo made many nights hard to sleep through.

He flicked on the fan that rested right next to their nightstand, which was just a good arm stretching effort to flick on, and then he turned off the light. He fixed his pillow so that he could hug it to his chest, and he felt Bloo slip up behind him, nestling up against him.

And Mac could see it all. He could see himself coming home from work, loosening up his tie after having a long exhausting day and his heart lighten at the sight of Bloo sitting on the couch, his feet propped up as he watched television. He could see them coming together for a kiss; turning on the stereo while they both worked on preparing dinner. At the end of the night for around an hour and a half they laid on the couch, chatting while the television blared at them, and after that… who knows?

"I love you, Bloo," Mac murmured, burying his face further into his pillow, a faint smile drifting across his lips as he was lulled to sleep by the sound of the fan.


	10. Chapter 10: A Peculiar Breakfast Event

_Hi… so once again things are getting a little bit intense in this chapter. AND YAY, WE'RE OFFICIALLY DEVELOPING A PLOTLINE! Sorry, it just takes me a little while to get going. n_n Apparently, according to my draft, there's only six chapters left including this one. Makes me a little sad, but maybe I'll be willing to give people a nice surprise since I've seen such unexpectedly great support! ;-) Thank you! R&R. _

**Chapter Ten**

Mac rolled an inch over to the file cabinet that was pushed up against the small corner of his cubicle. He put away the thick file for an imaginary friend named Lily that he had been currently working with. She had an odd relationship with her creator, on and off again, leaving her sometimes out on the street. Unfortunately, she had no idea about Foster's Home, so he had directed her to there, and told her to say that Mac had sent her there.

He was getting used to his new job, and was still kind of shaky about it. He was wondering about the impression that he gave on his coworkers. Was he uppity? Was he just a loser? Or did they actually like him but never really bothered to talk to him? Or maybe they were snobs.

Well, that wasn't quite true… Mac rolled back over to his desk and started to get busy, checking over paperwork, checking his email… Bloo wouldn't stop texting him… Mac couldn't help but chuckle every time his phone vibrated.

Ron Burger, the guy who worked directly across from him, was quite a nice guy. He'd glance up and cast smiles in Mac's direction. Ron was roughly five years older than Mac was, a respectable member of the work place, and he knew his way around. They often ate lunch together in the small chrome break room. Mac respected him, and did kind of want to get to know him more… but yet he worried about Bloo's jealousy. One time they had been in the city getting ice cream and since Bloo had thought that the female clerk had been flirting with Mac, Bloo had adamantly boycotted it the shop… even though it had one of Mac's favorite sugar free ice cream flavors that was incredibly hard to come across.

But Mac loved the idiotic, overly jealous blue blob, so he just went along with it… Mac glanced at the message on his phone that announced that he had received fifteen texts from Bloo within the past thirty minutes. He glanced up and caught Ron watching him intently.

"Ron?" Mac asked, blinking.

Ron pointed to the picture on his desk. "I was just looking at that."

Mac glanced at the picture frame. It was a picture of Bloo, different from the one that he had had since he was eight. Bloo was holding a Frisbee triumphantly over his head, a big grin spread across his face like a bright ray of sunshine.

Mac felt a blush rise across his cheeks, for some odd unexplainable reason. Ron smiled and chuckled.

"That's your imaginary friend, isn't it? What's his name?"

"Blooregard Q. Kazoo," Mac answered. "But I just call him Bloo. Everyone does."

"You still keep him?"

"Uh, yeah…"

"So you guys live together?"

"Yep." Mac whipped around in his seat and pretended to be busy answering emails.

His cell phone vibrated like crazy from where it was in his pocket and he worried about becoming aroused in the workplace. He picked up his phone and looked at the newest message he had received from Bloo.

_Bloo: Hey Mac, when you're on your way home, you should pick up more coffee._

Mac quickly texted him back.

_Mac: ? But I had half a pack left! How'd it go so fast?_

_Bloo: Don't ask questions, Mac. _

_Mac: STOP TEXTING ME! IM WORKING!_

Mac huffed as he set down his phone next to his computer, switching it to silent.

"Hey Mac," Ron called out. "You and I should hang out sometime."

Mac turned around and cast a smile over his shoulder. "Sure. I guess. Why not?"

"Cool." Ron then was interrupted by a female coworker that wandered up to his desk to commence in a friendly chat.

Mac walked home as he usually did. Bloo was sitting outside of their apartment on the stoop, waiting for him. Mac ducked his head and blushed as he approached.

"Hey baby," Bloo crooned, jumping up. "How was work?"

"Good. Here's the coffee." He handed the convenience store bag to him.

They walked upstairs to their apartment and Bloo opened the door. He peered into the bag as Mac kicked off his shoes and flung himself onto their loveseat sofa.

"Awww Mac, you didn't get the tasty kind!"

"It's coffee, Bloo. Do you really drink it for taste?" Mac groaned, pulling a hand over his face. "Plus that was on sale."

"Well aren't you just cheap?"

"Jeez, Bloo, I've had a long day. If you want a more expensive coffee why don't you get a job and help out?" he snapped.

Bloo sat down on the arm of the sofa and brushed Mac's hair out of his eyes. "Because you're better at being the breadwinner, baby. We both know that."

"I'm the human," Mac grumbled, trying to be serious even though Bloo was seriously making his heart flutter right now. "That's why I'm better at it."

"But if I were the human I'd totally win. Just saying."

"Mmm hmm," Mac answered. "So what are you making?"

"…Say what?"

Tonight was Friday night, and it wasn't a night that Mac had wanted to get all pissed off with Bloo, but he couldn't help but do so. He went into their bedroom and opened a book and proceeded to ignore him blatantly while Bloo watched TV in the other room. Mac couldn't believe that Bloo ignored him the whole night.

Bloo turned in around eleven, and Mac had already brushed his teeth, already in bed, curled up on his side with his arms crossed angrily. He felt Bloo slide up behind him, his hands fixating on his waist.

"No," Mac grumbled, trying to wriggle away from him. "I'm not in the mood, Bloo."

Bloo licked the outer rim of Mac's ear. "Sure, sure."

"No, I'm goddamn serious," Mac snapped, shoving him away.

Bloo stared at Mac in slight shock. Mac glared at him.

"I want you to start doing your part, Bloo, and you just won't do it. We're living together now. We look after each other. You don't get that. When you do, let me know."

He flicked off the light, and they remained silent for the rest of the night.

Mac got up the next morning to smell pancakes wafting into his nostrils. Dazed and amazed, he stumbled out of bed and headed over to the doorway, where he saw Bloo in the kitchen cooking pancakes over a griddle. They were a dark brown color, and would probably need a lot of butter and syrup to drown out the burnt taste, but… this was genuinely great.

"You made breakfast? Let me guess—for you?"

"No, for you too," Bloo answered, looking up. He grinned and stuck out his tongue at Mac. "See? I can be considerate."

Mac sat down at the table and doused them in syrup. Bloo turned off the griddle and sat down beside Mac.

"So…" he said, taking a swig of juice and glancing over at his boyfriend. "Do you forgive me?"

Mac rolled his eyes and smirked, smug. "I don't know…"

"_Mac_…"

"Okay, okay," Mac chuckled and gave Bloo a kiss. "Yes, I forgive you."

Mac hadn't even gotten the dishes in the sink before he and Bloo had vigorously started making out, then they made love on the kitchen floor. As always, an intense passion rose up between the two, excitement hanging in the air like a sort of musky cigar smell.

"God, that was great," Mac whispered, his eyes shining, trying to catch his breath.

"Its makeup sex, of course it's great," Bloo answered, grinning. "Damn, you have a lot to clean up."

The doorbell rang then, and Mac groaned, aggravated. He grabbed his boxer shorts that he had left on the ground by the sink, and pulled them on over his body. He then grabbed his other pajamas and pulled him on as well in an attempt to look decent, even though he was a total mess. It wasn't a big deal though. Whoever it was would go away and not ask any questions.

Mac opened the door and gasped.

Ron was standing there, grabbing onto the handle of a six pack of some cheap beer that he had picked up from a small liquor store. Ron's eyebrows rose as he took in Mac's disheveled appearance.

"Whoa. Mac. Hey…" his voice trailed off as he looked behind him.

Mac was deathly pale and could scarcely breathe. He glanced over his shoulder to see Bloo exiting the kitchen, stretching his arms over his head and yawning. Bloo caught sight of Ron and his arms snapped to his sides. Ron and Mac's heads turned back and their eyes locked.

"I'm gonna go," Ron announced, turning on his heel and hastily making his way towards the staircase.

"Ron! Ron, wait!" Mac grabbed his windbreaker and pulled it around his body and headed out after him.

Ron practically shoulder checked the door to the staircase open and then scrambled down the steps as fast as he could. Mac stood at the top of the stairs, panting, and anxiety quickly melding in his stomach. He grabbed at his hair and tugged on it in fistfuls.

"Oh shit," Mac whispered, feeling like he was going to be sick. "Shit, shit, shit!"


	11. Chapter 11: Outcasts

**Chapter Eleven **

Mac was too scared to leave the house all weekend. The good buzz that had been about them that morning had disappeared till it almost seemed like it had never happened, but it did… because Ron knew that Mac had had sex with Bloo.

Mac wasn't prepared at all to go back to work on Monday but he had to. Bloo gave him an unusually affectionate peck on the cheek before he left. As soon as Mac had walked through those doors, he knew that all eyes were on him.

Coworkers whispered to each other and just plain stared with bugged out eyes. Nobody gave friendly smiles. Nobody said anything to him. That was how Mac knew. He had been targeted, and now was going to be shunned.

Mac went to his desk and prayed to the heavens that a boss didn't approach him and fire him or a coworker harassed him. Ron refused to look at him, but when Mac looked at him, Ron would cast back ugly glares.

_Well this isn't so bad, _Mac thought with a heavy sigh as he leaned back in his office chair. _I mean, being shunned isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Everybody seems to be leaving me alone… _

And that was where Mac was wrong. He left for the break room to eat lunch, and when he returned, post it notes with words scribbled in red ink were stuck to his computer monitor.

Mac surveyed the room and saw that people were watching him. He walked over and peeled one off and read it.

_DIGUSTING FRIEND FAG. _

Mac swallowed hard, feeling suddenly emotional. He crumpled up the post it notes, refusing to read the others, and tossed them in the wastebasket by his desk. He busied himself with phone calls, emails, paperwork and leafing through files and was too scared to leave the desk at the end of the day.

He got up to leave at the end of the day, and then he heard the whispers. Louder.

"_Disgusting."_

"_Disgraceful… I can't believe it though. That kid?"_

"_Shouldn't somebody report this?"_

Mac scurried out of his workplace and then picked up his pace for the walk home. He was certain that somebody was going to be following him. This was of course, just the beginning.

For the next week, Mac found more and more post it notes, and anonymous emails, and was treated nastily by his coworkers. Him and Bloo were lying in bed one night and they found an egg smashed against their bedroom window. Bloo had cleaned it off, and when he went to wash his hands, he could see the pure terror that was in Mac's eyes.

As the next couple of weeks wore on, it gradually got worse. They started receiving phone calls. Mac caught a couple of his coworkers stalking him at one point, as if they wanted to see if it was true. His bosses were now growing increasingly concerned, and they often passed by his desk. Sometimes they chatted with him, but mainly they just watched him. Mac was starting to think that he was some sort of science experiment.

While it seemed like him and Bloo were being constantly watched, there seemed to be one night in particular that Mac noticed another presence lingering around somewhere relatively close by.

"Mac, don't worry about it. Sit down." Bloo sighed in aggravation as Mac wandered over to the window and pulled back the blinds for the fifth time that night.

"Did I see a flash over there?"

"Where?" Bloo got to his feet and shuffled over.

Mac stepped aside and Bloo peered out. He looked across the street to where the park was. In the bushes and trees, he could see nothing. Then again, it was around ten o clock at night, so of course he couldn't.

"Let's just go to bed. I don't have a good feeling about this." Mac drew the blinds and retreated into their bedroom.

Bloo rolled his eyes and flicked off the television. Mac walked back out of their bedroom and then rushed around, drawing all of the blinds and locking all the windows and dead bolting the door.

"Really?"

Mac arched a brow at Bloo and shook his head, now changing into his pajamas.

"Why don't you just get a new job?"

"In this economy?" Mac snorted. "Yeah, good luck with that."

"You made the Dean's list, like, three times or whatever."

"Twice," Mac corrected him. "And it doesn't matter. A recession is a recession, Bloo."

Mac huddled close to Bloo that night, his heart beating irregularly fast. He knew something was coming, he could feel it.

"We've got nothing to worry about, Mac," Bloo told him. "It's just you being all jumpy."

The next morning, however, Mac proved to be right.

"_BLOO!_" his shrill scream rattled the walls of the apartment and Bloo yelped, falling out of bed.

He tried to unwrap the covers that had been wound tightly around his body as Mac entered the room, holding the newspaper.

"There's a front page story. About us."

"What the hell…?" Bloo mumbled, grabbing the paper from Mac. "Let me see that."

It was certainly a front page story, but it wasn't a major story—just one placed off to the right as a side column. Bloo quickly read through the article, skimming over it. He couldn't find any of their names mentioned, but it did include descriptions about them. They were mentioned in one paragraph, and for the rest of the article, it talked about the possibilities of other friends, the logistics and the legalities, etcetera…

"Bloo, we're screwed. We're screwed." Mac looked like he had eaten some sugar—his eyes were crazed, his hair was all ruffled and his skin was deathly pale. "That's about us! Everyone at Foster's is going to know that's us!"

Bloo's mouth set in a grim line and he set the paper down on the bed.

"What do we do?"

"I don't know." Bloo shrugged.

Mac's shoulders slumped forward. He sighed heavily.

"I'm going to work, Bloo."

Bloo sat there the whole entire time, pondering things and for once speechless, while Mac got ready for work and left.


	12. Chapter 12: Show Me the Light

_R&R. Thanks!_

**Chapter Twelve**

The press coverage didn't stop with that one article. It, of course, only got worse as more and more reporters started hanging around their apartment. The windows were always locked and the blinds always drawn. For the first couple of weeks they had been getting phone calls like crazy.

One of the callers had been Frankie. She called up a couple of days later after the first article came out. Mac was the one who answered the phone.

"Mac! Hey, um… So look, I read this article in the paper and I'm just really, really confused… I don't really know what to think and my mind has just been bleh for the past few days," Frankie chuckled nervously over the phone. She talked very fast. Her words barely had a breath of air between them.

"Frankie…" Mac murmured sadly, gripping the edge of the countertop. "I… um…"

"Oh, Mac." He could hear the disapproval in her voice. "Please don't tell me this article is actually factual."

"Frankie, I'm really sorry—"

"—Oh no, Mac, don't do this!" Frankie's voice sounded like a whine. "Mac, we can talk about this! You're probably just confused!"

"I can't be confused after three years of this, Frankie."

"Whoa, wait, _three years?_ Why did I just find this out now?"

"Because…" he sighed heavily. "I talked to you about it a long time ago and the idea just weirded you out. So I asked the others to keep it a secret from you. I'm sorry, Frankie. But I just want to be with Bloo."

"Mac!" her voice sounded choked, like she was going to cry.

He hung up the phone then and slumped down into a ball against the wall. He tried to hold back a sudden rush of emotion that was so unlike him. But he couldn't help it. He had hurt Frankie. She was one of his best friends.

"Mac, buddy…" Bloo had been listening. He came over and sat down beside him and put an arm around his shoulder, rubbing it tenderly. "She'll be alright, come on."

"No, Mac, she's _not _going to be alright," he sniffled, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his shirt. "She's like my big sister. I didn't even tell her I was gay."

"Well, yeah…" Bloo mumbled, trailing off. He was suddenly unable to comfort Mac any further, other than by just sitting there holding him.

A couple of nights later Bloo screamed angrily as the phone rang for like the billionth time that week and he pulled the phone out of its socket. Mac blinked, surprised, but wasn't saying anything from where he sat on the couch.

"Damn, damn, damn!" Bloo hissed, eyes narrowed. Then he repeated basically every curse word he could think of three times, and thus ended their chaotic, noisy night.

It was worse when they had to go outside to do grocery shopping or Mac had to go to work. There was many a night that he had come home, his clothes spotted with some unidentifiable goo (probably raw eggs or saliva) and his ears were ringing from all the insults and mockeries that people had shouted at him. Reporters constantly approached him, asking for a comment on this or that. Mac and Bloo always refused them.

One night Mac had even almost gotten mugged. Thank God that he was right outside their apartment. Bloo had come instantly at the sound of Mac's screams and had fought off the masked attackers easily with a swift punch and a bunch of sadly uncoordinated but intimidating ninja moves. They scrambled away, not wanting to get into any trouble.

Mac's shins were bruised and his foot hurt like crazy from where one of the assailants had stomped on it. Bloo led Mac up the stairs and into their apartment. Mac looked exhausted, and in his forties rather than his twenties. The whole experience had aged them both. Bloo couldn't remember the last time he and his lover had done something stupidly fun. And that fact scared him.

Mac drew a bath and slunk down into it. Bloo wandered in, announcing that he was once again making a box of macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight.

"Mac?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bath tub.

"I love you, Bloo," Mac said with a heavy sigh, propping his head up against his hand. "But I don't know how much more of this I can take."

Bloo swallowed, fidgeting. "Don't talk like that. Things will get better." But he knew that they probably wouldn't.

Mac's bleary eyes focused on Bloo, his mouth set in a thin, firm line. "I hope that, baby. I really do."

There was a knock on the front door then, and both of them groaned.

"Another reporter?" Mac grumbled, trying to climb out of the water. "Why don't I give them a—"

"Mac, no. I got this." Bloo went into the linen closet right across from the bathroom and withdrew the baseball bat that they kept tucked behind the vacuum.

Bloo dragged it along the ground all the way to the door, and he didn't even bother to look through the peephole. He pulled the door open, and then took aim with his bat and swung—

_KRACK!_

His bat was stopped in its line of flight. Bloo blinked, and looked to see an odd fellow standing there, staring back at him with sunken in eyes.

It was an imaginary friend, of course. He had an oddly egg shaped head that was connected to a boxy torso and bent gangly legs. His skin color was maroon and it looked like it had scars or spots on it. He had a patch of dark brown hair that he kept hidden underneath a baseball cap from some unrecognizable baseball team.

Next to him stood a girl, probably around Mac's age, with blond hair and oddly dark eyelashes curling around her blue eyes. She was definitely glamorous, and showed it by wearing a jean skirt with a spunky tank top that showed off her best assets, yet modestly covered up by a jacket.

"Watch it, buddy," the friend grunted, lowering the baseball bat. "Sorry. We're um… Denise, do I introduce us?"

"Go ahead, sugar," she answered, her lips pursed to one side of her face as she stared at Bloo.

"Okay." The friend twisted his cap around. "I'm Reggy. This is Denise. We're um… we're like you guys."

"Who?" Bloo demanded, not lowering his guard.

"You know. You and your creator. We're a couple." Reggy smiled slightly, but his seriousness quickly washed that away.

Bloo exhaled, setting down the baseball bat. He rolled his eyes. "What's your point?"

"Our point is that we're here to help," Denise said, stepping inside the apartment without permission.

"Help with what?"

"Our discrimination," Denise answered, kicking off her shoes and neatly setting them together on the welcome mat. "We want to fight it."

Reggy coughed awkwardly and then trudged inside after his girlfriend. Bloo shut the door, confused.

"Here, we brought a gift," Denise said, holding out a small wire container that held an assortment of tea packages. "Tea. It's one of my favorites."

"Uh… Okay…" _Crazy_, Bloo thought, taking the container and setting it on the kitchen counter.

Denise sat down at the kitchen table and waited patiently for Reggy and Bloo to sit down with her too.

"Reggy and I have been together for what… Geez, maybe ten years?" she blinked, looking at Reggy. "I knew that I loved him and no one else would do when I was thirteen. And you know, with my parents both working a lot, I never had to give him up."

Reggy chuckled. "And you haven't yet, baby."

Denise wrinkled her nose in what Bloo assumed what was supposed to be amusement or affection. Denise then turned her head to Bloo.

"So? Mainly, we've just heard rumors about you and your partner. We don't really know anything about you. Other than that you're named Mac and Bloo and you live here and you're together."

"Mac created me when he was three. He had to give me up at eight, but he saw me every day at Foster's. We've been together for three years."

"Three years old, wow," Denise murmured, her eyes shining with approval and wonder. "I don't think I created Reggy till about a year later when I was four. I can't remember much from when I was little." She shrugged her shoulders. "All I remember is that Reggy has been there."

Bloo smiled at this. "Yeah. Mac and I have been pretty much inseparable."

"So it's only natural, yes, I get that. It's a perfect love story," Denise said with a giggle. "Almost as perfect as me and Reggy's."

"Denny…" he coughed into his fist.

Denise snapped back to reality. "Oh yes. So. We've been listening to all this media hullabaloo, and we wanted to form a support group or a campaign of some sort. We live in the neighborhood, so we wanted to stop by and just give this invitation to you…"

She removed a small yellow floral envelope from her purse and passed it over to Bloo. "We're holding a secret meeting, and just asking all imaginary friend-human couples to come and meet with each other. You know."

"O…kay…" Bloo mumbled uncertainly, not even bothering to open the envelope.

Denise smiled. "Well that's it. We've got an RSVP, so please try to get back to us before Saturday—because that's when the party is."

Reggy and Denise stood up and headed over to the doorway and Bloo shuffled over there with them.

"Well, bye," Bloo said. "Um… thanks."

"No problem, doll!" Denise answered, flashing her pearly white smile. "We hope to see you there!"

And then they left.

Mac exited from the bathroom about seven minutes after they had left. He walked into the room, trying to dry off his hair with a towel, and saw Bloo sitting peacefully on the couch flipping through a magazine.

"Bloo? Who was that at the door?"

"Uh some chick and her imaginary boyfriend," Bloo responded, bored. "She gave us some sort of invite to a party."

"Really?" Mac was extremely surprised.

He walked over to the table where the envelope was and he ripped it open and pulled out the card. "Why didn't you say anything? This is _huge _for us!"

"Because I figured she was just… you know, cuckoo for coco puffs," Bloo responded, swirling his finger up by his forehead.

"She could be. But still… maybe we should go." Mac said, a smile on his face. "I mean… we could meet other people like us, Bloo."

"Or, we can run into members of the media or more nut jobs that may want to kill us," Bloo cried out in protest, throwing the magazine on the floor. "Mac? Seriously? Are you… are you nuts?"

"No, I'm not nuts. Excuse me for wanting to relate. Look, its tomorrow night. I'll call them up and tell them that we're coming."

"Then can I go out and buy a gun?"

"Bloo!" Mac rolled his eyes and headed towards the phone.

The next night arrived soon enough. Mac and Bloo used the back entrance of their apartment complex to get outside onto the street.

Mac straightened the black tie that he had fixed around his neck. He wore slacks and a white shirt. His palms were sweaty, and he kind of had an urge to sit down and not get up. He cast a look towards Bloo, who was hidden away in a trench coat, tucked in the shadows.

"Ready?"

"Yep."

They proceeded through the streets towards the meeting place and came to an alleyway… which had nothing back there but a dumpster and maybe some old homeless shelter. There were no doors. There were no windows. There was no indication that this wall even led into a building.

"Duped. There," Bloo growled, rolling his eyes. "I told you Mac."

"No… that's not right…" Mac approached the wall. "She told me this place was difficult to get into… Ah! Wait, here we go!"

Mac spotted a doorknob sticking out of the wall, and he twisted it. It gave a little and then finally he pulled it open.

The inside was a wood paneled corridor that was brightly lit with faux oil lamps, and people hung around in the hallway, drinking alcoholic beverages. Mac motioned to Bloo to enter with him, and the two walked inside.

There had to be at least ten couples there, five human and five imaginary. It was a very small room that the party was held in… the couch and coffee table had been pushed up against the wall, and an octagonal rug was placed in the center of the room. There was a small stereo system and a fold up table that had an assortment of food on it.

"Mac! Is that you? Mac?" Denise, dressed in a body hugging and shiny pink dress, approached them. Her curled pigtails bounced as she moved.

Her eyes shone as she saw Mac. "Oh, I'm so glad that you were able to make it!"

Mac smiled. "Yeah. I'm glad that this wasn't… you know, fake."

"Oh sugar, I know, I know." She nodded sympathetically. "Here, here, I have somebody that really wants to talk with you both. Do you mind?"

"What? Uh, no…" Mac allowed himself to get dragged off to a corner by Denise. Bloo obediently followed.

There was a meek, fresh little young man sitting in a chair, smiling as he watched everything, tapping his foot against the ground. He had oily black hair and bright blue eyes.

"Mac?" he looked up as they approached.

"Uh… yes," Mac said, nodding. "Who are you?"

"Nic Dawson." He stood up, and the two of them shook hands. Nic shook hands with Bloo too. "I'm a reporter that works with a small little newspaper... The City Buzz? Lame title, I know." He was awkward. "But you, know, I've been dying to meet you guys ever since I read your story."

"A lot of reporters have been." Mac answered warily, casting a cool look in Denise's way.

Nic noticed this. He frowned. "Oh God. You think I'm one of _those _reporters? Look, dude, you and your guy have been slandered enough. No, I'm totally cool with it." He held up his hands innocently. "Really, easy breezy, I don't really care. Well, I didn't, until I realized that basically nobody has interviewed either of you and yet you're being slandered." He clapped his hands and vigorously rubbed them together. "Look, I'm a better, cleverer dude than that. I want to interview you two and _not _have you slandered."

Mac shook his head. "No."

"What? Mac? Come on! We should," Bloo urged.

"You want to risk this?" Mac demanded.

Bloo grinned. "Mac, it's a great deal. Come on… he'll make us look good, and all he wants us to do is _talk. _You're great at talking. You do it all the time."

"I thought you said I was good at nagging."

"That too."

Mac rolled his eyes and looked back at Nic. He crossed his arms. "I'm not sure if I can even trust you, Nic."

Nic nodded. "You know what? You're right. I could be a sleazy reporter that is just looking for a hook." He stood up. "But…" he grinned. "If you don't talk soon, things will just continue to spin wildly out of control. So you should just try to open up a little bit."

Denise placed a hand on Mac's shoulder. "Mac. I've known him for like, a month now. If he wanted to write dirt, he would have written dirt already."

"This isn't what I came here for, Denise."

"I know, but Mac…" she bit her lip. "Let's face it, you and Bloo are like the poster couple for imaginary friends' rights. You're the ones that have gotten the most media coverage so far, and no one here—'cept for me and Reggy—has been together longer than you have. No one here has had an imaginary friend since they were three. You guys have."

Mac sighed. "I… I don't…"

He looked over at Bloo and saw his excited face. It could just be that Bloo was a little fame hungry… but still…

"Okay. Okay, alright, fine. We'll do it."

"Awesome!" Nic practically squealed with glee. "Thanks a bunch, Mac!"

"When are we doing this interview?"

"Right now," Nic said. "If you want. But I'm ready now. We could reschedule—"

"—Let's do it now!" Bloo blurted out, grabbing Mac's hand.

Denise pointed the way to the unoccupied kitchen that was down the hall, and the two of them followed after Nic. Denise smiled, and headed over to the refreshment table where Reggy was scooping up some salsa with a chip.

"Those two are so cute, don't you think?"

"Huh?" Reggy mumbled through a mouthful of food.

Denise rolled her eyes and then dabbed at his face with a napkin. He had fish like lips, and big ogling eyes, but somehow for her, seeing his face never got old.

"Mac and Bloo," Denise said. "Don't you think they're a pretty great couple? They click so well."

"We go together pretty well too, baby."

"Yeah, after people have taken the time to talk to us, they know that. But it's like, right when you see them, you know they're perfect for each other." She sighed dramatically.

He grinned at her. "That was the most perfect romanticized sigh ever, baby. It'd work great in one of your shows."

"Oh you!" she swatted him and he laughed uproariously.

The interview was relatively short. Only about a half an hour long. For extra reassurance, Nic had let both Mac and Bloo check over their quotes that he had written down on his notepad. After that was all done, Mac started to question Nic.

"So, Nic, when exactly is this story going to come out in the paper?"

"Oh tomorrow. You know, as soon as possible," Nic said, filing away the notepad in his little book bag. "I might have to leave the party to work on it, but I'll get it done, don't worry."

"That's the least of my worries," Mac answered. "How old are you anyways, Nic?"

"Let's see… how old are you?" Nic grinned, almost flirtatiously back at Mac.

"He's old. Thirty," Bloo blurted out.

Mac elbowed Bloo in the ribs and answered, "Twenty three."

"I'm… twenty," Nic answered, smiling sheepishly.

"Twenty?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't you go to—"

"Community college."

"Well how did you—"

"It's a family operated business," Nic responded, laughing. "I've got all the answers, yes siree."

"I knew that you seemed a bit young…" Mac smiled. "So are you going to stay?"

"Oh yeah, as long as I can," Nic answered. "I don't get out much."

He shook both of their hands and then headed back to the party, and attempted to snag a beer from the cooler underneath the table. Some woman barked at him and chased him away and he hightailed it away from the table.

"I think he's totally trustworthy," Bloo said to Mac. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"We'll see when the article comes out…"

Denise then came cruising down the hallway. "Hey! You two! I want to introduce you to the other couples before we really get the party going."

Mac and Bloo eagerly followed after her, and soon met the most incredible people… There was Jamie and his friend Roxie, Rebecca and her friend Goldie, Lydia and her friend Princey, Issac and Genietta, Bev and Rex… Each couple they met were unique in their own way, and like Mac and Bloo, Denise and Reggy, in love.

It was practically a paradise.

At least for just that night.


	13. Chapter 13: Triumph over Tribulation

_Hey guys, I can't believe it, but after this, only two more chapters left! That means that the poll is going to go up sometime pretty soon as well. I'm not going to tell people what my idea for a third story is until you read the ending… I don't want to spoil it. -.- Anyways, nothing could ever express the level of gratitude that I have for my readers and reviewers. Thank you so much! R&R please. _

**Chapter Thirteen **

The following morning the article came out and Mac and Bloo both waited with bated breath to read it. As soon as Mac's alarm went off, Mac got showered and dressed for work then ran down the street to a news cart to buy the City Buzz. Few copies had been sold as of yet, but the article was on the front page.

"IMAGINARY FRIEND & HUMAN COUPLE SPEAKS OUT!"

Mac started reading it on the brisk walk back to the apartment. It was… good. It didn't really put them in a bad light at all. Nic reported the facts and incorporated their quotes in smoothly, and it was honestly one of the best articles that Mac had read for a long time.

"How is it?" Bloo asked when Mac walked back in through the door. "Am I going to have to go and punch his lights out?"

"No," Mac answered, smiling. "No, it's a really great article. He didn't slander us at all."

Just then their phone rang and they both threw up their hands in frustration. Bloo went and answered it.

"Hey, this is Nic Dawson?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold on one sec—MAC! NIC IS CALLING!"

Mac hissed, "Bloo, shut up! It's not even seven in the morning! We have neighbors!"

"Not very important neighbors," Bloo grumbled, picking up the paper that was lying on their kitchen table.

Mac picked up the phone and spoke into it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Mac it's Nic. Did you get the article?"

"Yeah, I just picked up a copy of it today. Thanks, Nic, really. It's wonderful."

"You're welcome. I was glad to do it. Actually, I have a friend of mine—I checked him out—he wants to do an interview with you two as well."

"Another interview?" Mac asked, exasperated.

Nic said, "Oh, Mac, look, if you don't want to do another one, I understand."

"No it's fine. If you think they're legit, we'll do another interview."

"Yeah, I'll be right there too." He chuckled. "I'll act as your manager or something."

Mac laughed. "That'd be great, Nic. Well I got to get ready for work, but here, let me give you my cell phone number and you can text me the details…"

They exchanged cell phone numbers and then hung up. Mac glided back over to the table where Bloo had finished reading. Bloo glanced up, a little irked.

"What's wrong?" Mac was crestfallen by Bloo's face. "Bloo?"

"I don't really like that Nic guy."

"He's proven to be an okay guy so far. And you have a really bad intuition," Mac told him, going back into the kitchen to make breakfast.

Bloo got up and followed him. Mac grabbed a cereal bowl and a glass, and poured some juice and filled up his bowl with a multi grain cereal. Bloo watched him.

"I think he's flirting with you."

"He's _not gay_!" Mac snorted, laughing. "God, you are so weird!"

"'Why don't we exchange numbers,' 'Oh Nic, you're such a great guy, so sexy and so strong—"

"I never said either of those two things. You did."

"Well you're totally thinking that!" Bloo blurted.

Mac rolled his eyes. "I don't have time to deal with your jealousy." He spooned some cereal into his mouth and mumbled, "I'm late enough as it is."

Mac quickly chomped down his cereal and guzzled down his juice, then gave Bloo a peck on the cheek and left for work.

The following weeks flew by pretty quickly. Mac and Bloo spent evenings and weekends conducting interviews with reporters pre approved by Nic, and Nic also spent some time coaching them on what to do when encountering a reporter that was against them.

"You're going to have to put up your guard around these questions, but still give enough information to the public so that it's not shady," Nic advised them warningly. "Otherwise, people will think you're just being evasive, and their support for you will wane."

The interviews actually made things more explosive and really kicked off what was to be the Fanta-Human-Sexual Campaign. Mac and Bloo were frequently featured in articles, and in photos, with Denise and Reggy as the second most featured couple.

After interviews, the five of them—Mac, Bloo, Denise, Reggy and Nic—would go out to eat at public restaurants, and finally felt as if they were at ease. Mac relished this social life, and almost craved it like it was a sugar rush. He had missed being able to go out with people, talk with them and engage in conversations other than with Bloo. A lot of this sadness came from the fact that they hadn't seen Wilt, Frankie, or Eduardo in a very long time. They got the occasional phone call, but it was hard to return them.

On one particular night, they went and ate out at a nice little burger place. The winter was now settling in, and so they bundled up and walked inside the restaurant. They shook off their coats that had gathered the astray snowflakes from the swirling winds and were greeted by a waiter who promptly directed them to their table.

"Man, I haven't had a burger in ages," Mac declared, licking his lips as he reached for his menu.

Denise giggled and nudged him playfully. "I haven't either, sugar—have to watch my figure not only for my job, but for Reggy over there too."

Reggy raised his head at the mention of his name and looked in their direction. Mac and Denise snickered behind their menus and looked at the selections. Bloo, as usual, couldn't make up his mind about what to order and contemplated loudly about whether or not he should order the most expensive thing on the menu. Nic, a humble guy, peacefully sat there waiting, already knowing what he wanted.

"I haven't had er… friend talk in a long time, too," Denise said to Mac. "Since I met you, I mean. I hope you don't mind…"

"No, I don't. I haven't talked to a girl since… Jeez…" an image of Frankie flashed in his head. "Hmm. A long time."

Mac and Denise had become fast friends, as they were both the level headed authorities in their own relationships. They chatted frequently and spent some time together over the weekends, either out shopping or playing games at one of their apartments. Reggy wasn't too sociable, so the same couldn't be said for Bloo and Reggy, but they got along okay.

"Yes, sir," Nic said, setting down his menu. "We have been busy as of late."

"You said it," Bloo answered, smirking. "Mac and I have barely had any time to—"

"Bloo!" Mac's cheeks turned bright red and everyone at the table laughed.

"Well, the campaign is going to the next level," Nic continued, his voice taking on a lower, more serious tone. "And while the supporters are growing stronger, the haters are too. You guys heard about that one poor girl down Oklahoma? Who was fired from her job because of her imaginary boyfriend?"

"Yeah," Mac said. "I heard that on the news. It's become a big legal case now."

"What they are saying about you guys lately is that fanta-human-sexual couples are apparently more, to put it lightly, 'disliked' than gays or any other nationality. Not just in America, but possibly the world." Nic chewed on his lower lip.

"Well?" Denise asked. "You think I don't know that already? If you've got something to say, sugar, say it now."

"I think that we want to start thinking about taking the campaign worldwide. There's people over in Europe that have contacted me and said that they might be interested in an interview, but neither party is quite sure yet."

"Europe?" Mac's face lit up. "I've always wanted to go to Europe! When I was eight I won tickets, but Madame Foster jacked them from me, so I didn't get a chance to."

"Eh, Europe," Bloo shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't seem like that big of a deal."

Denise and Mac both shot an unnerving glare in Bloo's direction. He swallowed in response to the hostility. Nic chuckled at this.

"Europe is an amazing place. Of course… this could take a while," Nic said. "Who knows? If we go there, more people might want interviews, and there would be more press coverage, and then we'd probably have to establish support groups… We're starting to become an organization."

"And you're running it all, aren't you, Nic?" Reggy asked him, grinning.

Nic bashfully beamed and said, "If that's what it takes, then sure, I will. All I know is that I like being around you guys, and I believe very strongly in this cause. So whatever." His eyes rolled over in Mac and Bloo's direction. "Of course, we'd have to take our poster couple."

"Poster couple?" Mac and Bloo echoed.

The other three cracked up.

"Oh come on you guys, you totally are!" Denise gave Mac a playful shove. "You're all so lovey-dovey."

"Lovey-dovey?" Bloo repeated, snickering. "That's a funny way of putting it."

"Well… I do think that we'll be together a long time," Mac admitted shyly, keeping his eyes focused down at the table.

"You've stood being around each other for this long enough, what's to say for life?" Reggy chuckled.

Mac smiled and nodded in agreement. The rest of the dinner progressed rather smoothly and they had a good time. Mac had been having thoughts about the future. He knew that there would be a point that he would be promoted, and they'd move out of the apartment and into a house… maybe they would foster or adopt children of their own… He knew that a wedding would most likely never come in his lifetime, but at least they could act as if they were married. They practically did now. They referred to one another as "partner" and no longer "boyfriend." It was so hard to believe that what had originally been a summer fling turned into a long lasting relationship.

"Hey, Mac," Nic was now snapping his fingers in Mac's face, trying to get his attention. "Is anybody home?"

Mac blinked and looked over at Nic. They had all left the restaurant and now walking back to their own apartments. Mac rolled his eyes and pushed away Nic's hand.

"I'm listening," Mac told him, though he hadn't been.

Nic said disbelievingly, "Uh huh… Well, so a guy contacted me for a television interview…"

"Okay."

"…But he wants to do it solo. Like one on one with you, then a one on one with Bloo."

Mac raised a brow, curious. "What? Really?"

He knew that this wasn't that odd of a request, but they hadn't conducted separate interviews yet. They had always been together, never questioned separately. He had figured that it would never really happen, they had been doing them that way for so long.

"Yeah," Nic said, nodding. "So, do you think that the two of you would be up to it?"

"Sure," Bloo blurted out before Mac had a chance to say anything. "What could go wrong?"

Nic and Mac both stared back at Bloo with blank, not amused looks on their faces. Bloo grinned.

"I don't think that anything could get any worse," Bloo announced, looking at both of them. "I mean, we're so popular already."

"Bloo is probably right. Besides, I'm sure that both of your individual voices need to be heard," Nic agreed, waiting for Mac's response.

Mac chewed on his lower lip and then said, "Okay, I guess that we can do it."

Nic then told them the details, and by the time he was done, they had reached their apartment. They said goodnight and parted their separate ways, then turned in.

Mac and Bloo walked in through the door of their apartment, and Mac hung up his coat on the hook by the door.

"So you think that we're not having enough sex?" Mac asked Bloo casually.

"Well yeah. We haven't had sex in like, a month," Bloo snorted.

Mac smiled slyly and glanced over his shoulder. "I'm a bit tired tonight, but tomorrow, I'll see what I can cook up for you."

Bloo made a purring sound in his throat that sounded awkward, and Mac snickered a little.

"Looking forward to it," Bloo said, leaning in to kiss Mac, and planting little kisses up and down his throat and face.

Mac nuzzled him back affectionately, looking deep into Bloo's eyes. He loved him. This was perfect. They were perfect. They were always going to be together.

The next day right after work, Mac and Bloo arrived on the filming sight where they interview was to be held. Nic had gotten stuck in traffic, so he hadn't been able to get there on time. He was really worried that he wasn't going to be there, but Mac reassured them that they would be fine.

The interviewer was a small correspondent from a national broadcasting company. He was white and small, looking to be in his fifties or late forties. He had a charming smile perfect for the television, and a deep throaty voice that welcomed them in when they arrived. His name was Dean Williams.

"So, we're going to do this one at a time," he said, opening the door to a large, oddly fancy trailer.

He first allowed Mac inside, and Bloo stood around outside, bored. A couple of the set workers catered to Bloo, bringing him waters and sodas, sometimes bags of chips or pretzels. It was an hour later by the time that Mac had finished, and when that happened, Nic had shown up.

Nic and Mac stood around outside chatting while Bloo entered the trailer with Dean. He was instantly welcomed by oddly bright lights, and two chairs placed in the center of the room. What windows there were had been covered up with sheets of black cloth.

Bloo took a seat in a director's chair across from Dean, and waited patiently for them to set up and start asking questions.

At first, the questions were easy. Dean asked him about the day that Bloo was created. He asked him about growing up with Mac, and how he dealt with the long periods of separation that they had endured when Mac was in college. He asked him about the movement, and what he thought about it, and Bloo answered as honestly and as intelligently as he could (but sometimes that was difficult, because he either didn't have an opinion or couldn't give a very in depth answer.)

Then Dean dove in a little deeper. He started asking more intimate questions about Mac and Bloo's relationship. How they had figured their feelings out, how they had fallen in love, how they made their relationship work through all the turmoil. Bloo was starting to get a little nervous, and now was struggling to formulate some of the answers.

"Why do you think Mac loves you?" Dean asked him then, his piercing blue eyed gaze set on Bloo.

"Why Mac loves me?" Bloo repeated, confused. He laughed then. "Gosh, I don't know why… Maybe because he couldn't get a girl to date him? He's always really awkward around girls, so maybe he just settled on me."

Bloo laughed then for a little bit, and the intenseness of Dean had gone. He sat there looking back at Bloo with a shocked look on his face. Bloo cut his laughing short. Dean then gave a tight smile, almost along the lines of a smirk.

"Thank you, Bloo. I think that we've gotten all the material we need here."

Bloo then left the trailer, and met Mac outside. Mac was totally unaware of what had been going on inside. He approached Bloo with a smile on his face.

"How did it go?"

"It went fine," Bloo answered, grinning, like nothing had gone wrong. Apparently, while Mac was unaware, Bloo was completely oblivious.

They left that evening and when they returned home, Mac started kissing Bloo, luring him in.

"Why don't you go lie down?" Mac suggested, with that cute little innocent tone in his voice. "I'll go freshen up…"

Bloo practically dashed to the bedroom. Mac headed into the bathroom and Bloo waited patiently, stretched out on the bed. When Bloo returned, Mac was wearing just one of his work shirts that hung down a little low. The smell of his cologne wafted in Bloo's nostrils.

It seemed like the two of them had fallen into a aesthetic, traditional rhythm that they couldn't describe. Mac descended to him. One hand, pressed against another. Harmony. One soul. One bond. Foreheads pressed together, breath mingling. This was what it meant to love someone. The eye contact. Their touches ginger, dripping with desire. But while this was the norm, there was also an added element to it. Something that made the night heavenly, unlike any other. Something that made Mac never want to leave Bloo's arms, never want to leave that room.

And it became the night that the two of them hoped would never end.


	14. Chapter 14: OOPS!

_R&R please. Thank you! _

**Chapter Fourteen**

Mac woke up the next morning still enveloped in Bloo's arms. His eyes were bleary from sleep. He blinked and rubbed his eyes and his hand flailed around as he searched to turn off the alarm. It was Saturday, but sometimes he accidentally left it on.

Bloo was still sleeping like the lazy log that he was. Mac smiled warmly and kissed his cheek, then got out of the bed and pulled on an old t-shirt and a pair of boxers from his dresser drawer. He knew that after last night, he'd probably have to wash the bed. _That _was going to be a pain.

Mac left the bedroom and headed into the kitchen and grabbed the box of his favorite cereal from the cupboard and set it on the countertop. He wandered over to the door, opened it, and retrieved the newspaper. As soon as he saw it, he knew that something was off.

"It's… it's the interview from last night…" Mac was confused. "But I thought this was televised. What…?"

Mac instantly removed the paper from its bag and scanned the headline.

REAL LOVE? OR FAKE? THE SKETCHY ANSWERS FROM BLOO ARE EXAMINED.

"What?" Mac whispered, his eyes widening.

He read through the article and came across the quote. He gaped when he read the line that Bloo had given Dean. All at once a wave of emotions overcame him. Confusion, anger, and… Heartbrokenness.

He couldn't help it but want to cry. This whole article was totally criticizing their relationship in the most negative light possible. He was trembling violently and felt like he was going to be sick. In a few hours, he was sure that they were going to be assaulted with phone calls and reporters. He could see them now, pressed up against the walls and windows and their voices would rattle them to their core.

Mac sat down at the kitchen table and just started to weep softly. The tears slipped in through his fingers and dripped down onto the table. He tried to hold it in, but he knew that he was going to pick up volume soon if he couldn't control himself.

Bloo exited the bedroom then, wanting to make a beeline for the kitchen, but was interrupted by the sight and sound of Mac's distress. He halted, frozen in his tracks.

"Mac? What's wrong?"

Mac glared, picked up the paper, and threw it at him. "Take a look!"

Bloo's eyes traveled down and he saw the article and quickly read through it. He looked back up at Mac, and swallowed. Mac drummed his fingers on the tabletop, trying to contain his emotions.

"You think I'm with you, not because I'm not interested in women, but because I can't get one to date me?"

"Mac…" Bloo scoffed, his eyes smiling, trying to console him. "God, it was a joke! I was joking! I got a little nervous and I just tried to lighten the mood."

"They don't know that, Bloo!" Mac cried out, smacking his fists on the table. "People are against us! That was a pretty damn mean joke, and I can't believe you're not taking this seriously!"

"I am serious!"

Mac shook his head. "No, you aren't! I'm with you because I love you! I'm _in _love with you!" he swallowed and his eyes glistening with tears, focused on Bloo. "You… you love me too, don't you?"

Bloo was suddenly thrust into a world of confusion. Last night, they had been having what could have possibly been their greatest night ever. Now they were arguing over a stupid little joke? One that the media had spun wildly out of control?

Mac anxiously awaited Bloo's answer. "Bloo? You don't want this?"

Bloo had shut down now. He shrugged his shoulders, seeming a little sad.

"What?" Mac was panicking a little now. "Wait, you _don't _love me? Then what did you… Why did you…"

Mac was as white as a ghost. "I… I'm going to be sick…"

"Mac, it's not like that!"

"Look, I don't want to hear it!" Mac snapped. "Not after you basically acted like an asshole and talked shit about me!"

Bloo attempted to come forward and touch Mac, but he shoved him away. Mac glared at Bloo, his eyes red rimmed with tears.

"I want you out of here, okay?"

"Where do I go?" Bloo demanded.

"That's not my problem," Mac answered, crossing his arms, sighing heavily. His eyes were glazed over, the plea for a swift end surfacing in the pools of his awaiting tears.

"Fine!" Bloo shouted back at him. "Go ahead and throw your stupid little fit! I'll leave!"

"Good! You got laid, so I guess you'll be fine, huh?" Mac snapped, stomping over to the door and throwing it open.

"Hell yes, and unlike you, I have no problem getting laid."

"Fucking get out!"

Bloo left, and Mac slammed the door shut. At hearing the sound of it slamming, Bloo jolted, and he suddenly realized his mistake. He paused, and he heard a thump from behind the door, and could envision Mac, curled up on the floor in a little ball, crying, just as he had always done when he got upset.

Bloo turned and started walking down the hallway.


	15. Chapter 15: Should I stay? Should I go?

_Hey all! So some of you might be happy to know that I miscounted… This actually isn't going to be the last chapter of this story. It's the next one. :-D and then of course there's the chance of a possible sequel, which I'd love to work on, but it depends on the results of the poll that I will set up along with the last chapter. So, here's hoping for some more reviews and readers! Thanks! _

**Chapter Fifteen **

Bloo had been picked up by Frankie when he had made the call at a pay phone down the street. She hadn't said anything when she picked him up, and she didn't talk to him the whole drive back. Bloo didn't know if she had read the article or not. He didn't care. He was still pissed after his fight with Mac.

When he arrived at the house, Wilt was the first that bothered to encounter him.

"Bloo? What are you doing here?" he didn't even bother to say, "Hi, how's it going?" Wilt knew that something was wrong right off the bat.

Bloo grunted a wordless response and headed into the kitchen to retrieve a juice box. Wilt followed him, his sneakers squeaking against the tiled floor. Bloo stabbed the straw in through the hole and started guzzling down the juice.

"Bloo, did something happen with Mac? Did you guys get into a fight?"

"At least _one _person didn't read the paper," Bloo grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"What? What did you say?"

"I said something in the paper that really upset Mac, so he got all pissy and kicked me out."

Wilt blinked, his bad eye rattling as he did so. "Oh, what did you say?"

Bloo sighed in aggravation and said, "The guy asked me why I thought Mac loved me, and I made a joke, saying that Mac loved me because he couldn't get a girl to love him."

Wilt gaped, horrified at Bloo's statement. Bloo arched a brow.

"What?"

"Let me get this straight," Wilt said, drifting his good arm across his chest as if he were crossing them. "You're both gay. And yet you insinuated that Mac only dates you because he wants to be able to have intercourse?"

"No!"

"Well that's what it sounds like," Wilt huffed. "I'm sorry, but it sounds like you made Mac out to be some sort of creepy loser."

"_But it was a joke!_" Bloo wailed, glaring. "I didn't actually mean it!"

"Well, how do you think Mac feels, Bloo?"

"I _know _how he feels! He was crying when I left!"

Wilt sighed heavily, sympathy for Mac evident in his face. "Poor Mac." He glared at Bloo. "You know, he really doesn't deserve you."

Wilt turned and left the room, and Bloo stood there, guiltily clutching his now empty juice box and knowing that he was right.

The next evening, Mac found himself sitting alone on the sofa in Reggy and Denise's apartment with the other imaginary friend couples. Mac sat there, holding a glass of water that he had been uninterestedly sipping on all night.

Nic walked in through the door and gave Mac a concerned look and instantly went over to him. He sat down next to him.

"I'm so sorry, about what Bloo said," Nic murmured. "I hope you're doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm doing alright." Mac sighed heavily. "I feel like shit, but I guess that's how it's supposed to feel when your heart has been broken into eighteen million tiny little pieces."

Nic smiled and gave Mac a quick, friendly hug. "I'm here for you, man."

Mac swallowed and nodded briefly, and then Nic stood up and walked to the center of the room. The imaginary couples all gathered around, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"I have an announcement," he declared, surveying the room. "The reporters that are stationed in Europe _do _want us to come over. We also have groups contacting us for support in the United Kingdom and Germany. As of now, I have ten interviews that I've scheduled to be held over the next ten weeks. I don't expect all of you to go…" he cast a look in Mac's direction. "But I do need a few of you to."

They all nodded and murmured in agreement. Nic coughed.

"So, I'd like your responses relatively soon. I apologize for it being on such short notice, but the first interview is to be held in a week and a half."

Denise laughed nervously. "That's a little… Ten weeks? We'd have to quit our jobs."

"Yes, we would," Nic agreed warily, nodding. "But I'm willing to take that risk. I've saved up my money, and a wealthy benefactor has agreed to help us out and fund our excursions as long as we devote ourselves to the cause."

Reggy shrugged his shoulders and looked over at Denise. She smiled, took his hand and squeezed it.

"We're in, sugar," Denise said with a giggle, and a few people sort of cheered.

"That's great," Nic's eyes were shimmering. He turned to Mac. "I… I know that you're in a bad place right now…"

"No." Mac smiled, shaking his head. "Whatever happens between me and Bloo… I still believe in people loving who they want to love." He scratched his head. "Of course I still have to think about it. I'd be giving up my apartment, my job… it's a lot to take in."

"Of course, of course." Nic clapped his hands and rubbed them together vigorously. "Those of you that are in, good. Those of you that don't want to come with, don't worry, we'll keep in touch. If you're still not quite sure yet, you know how to contact me, so let me know."

The party dispersed shortly, and Mac walked home alone, his hands in his pockets, in deep thought. He was going to have to wait and see what happened with Bloo before he made his final decision.


	16. Chapter 16: Last Chance

**Chapter 16: Last Chance**

_Hello! So… here it is… The very last chapter. I want to take the time (as I do with most of my stories) to recognize some crucial supporters, no matter how many times they reviewed. It's just my thing._

_First off, a very warm thank you to wally's girlfriend, who frequented me with reviews, asked questions, and gave feedback. I'm pleased that you enjoyed the story, and your reviews always brought a smile to my face. Next off, for sparklynails101, thank you. You were a very avid, strong supporter that answered some questions others had and promoted what was being written. Thank you to CartoonFreak123, for being so kind and reviewing, even though you might not have agreed with the pairing. And finally, thank you to Twinkel13, for complimenting me on my pacing and joining in on the fun._

**Chapter Sixteen**

A week had passed now, and they hadn't contacted each other. Bloo had slumped around in his old room that he shared with Wilt and Eduardo. He thought back to Mac, and thought about what they had said to each other, and flared up at the thought of their argument and then pushed it to the back of his head. Mac, on the other hand, was just trying to get through his day. When five days had gone by and Bloo hadn't even called, Mac had decided that he was going to put the apartment up for sale. He turned in his resignation letter at work as well, and talked to Nic the following evening about tickets and whatnot.

Bloo, surprisingly, was the one that ended up calling Mac. He asked to come over and see if they could talk things out. Sharing a room with two other people ended up sucking, as well as not having full time access to a fridge and being nagged by Mr. Herriman.

Bloo came over on Friday, and when he entered the apartment, he saw that a lot of stuff was missing from their room. He gaped when he walked in through the door.

"Mac?" he called out.

Mac exited the bedroom, saw Bloo, and blinked. "Oh. Hey."

"What do you mean, 'Oh, hey?' Where is our stuff?"

Mac bit his lip. "Yeah… I need to talk to you about that. You know how Nic was talking about the interviews in Europe?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I'm going to Europe. With Nic and Denise and Reggy and Issac and Genietta."

"Uh, when exactly were you going to tell me this?"

"Now. When you came over."

Bloo rolled his eyes. "Well way to drop that bomb on me, Mac."

"What exactly was I supposed to do? Call you up and tell you that I'm going to Europe?"

"Well, are you going with me?"

"I don't know!" Mac cried out. "Do you want to go? Are you really sorry about what you said?"

"Yes I am, since it made you so upset."

Mac looked saddened. "I don't think you are."

"Well, it was just a stupid joke, and you know how I am…" Bloo shrugged.

"I would never say that about you. Never. And you know, I realize now that I've been pretty blind."

Bloo arched a brow. Mac licked his lips, and crossed his arms as if he was hugging himself. He focused his eyes on the ground, and his tone was stern.

"I've had to give up having a relationship with my family. I've had to give up living a normal life. I've had to give up having some really good friends of mine. All because I loved you," Mac explained. "But Bloo, I don't think you'll do the same. I thought you had changed from when we were younger."

"And?"

"You're exactly the same." Mac lifted his head, and his eyes were watery. "I don't want to do this anymore, Bloo. You've never even directly told me you loved me. You always said it jokingly or you've said, 'Me too.' And I want a future with someone. I want to be with someone that's going to treat me well."

Bloo couldn't say anything. He was stunned. Mac was completely composed. Ice cold. To the point.

"You want to break up?" Bloo asked, a little hostile.

"I think this is how it's going to end. I'm going to Europe whether you want to go or not."

"Then fine. We'll break up." Bloo snapped.

Mac bit his lip, recoiling a little bit at his tone. He nodded. "Fine by me."

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I packed all your stuff in a box. You can go and get it. It's in the bedroom."

Bloo shuffled by him, feeling the blow now. They were broken up. They weren't together anymore. He was going to go back to Foster's, and possibly be adopted by some other little kid…

Bloo picked up the large box and half carried, half dragged it over to the door. Mac held it open for him.

"I leave in a couple of days," Mac whispered. "So… If you want to see me off, you can."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Bloo answered.

Mac nodded. "Okay."

Bloo left the apartment and when he glanced over his shoulder, he saw Mac for the last time. He was hurt, heartbroken, but trying to remain strong. When Mac closed the door, Bloo felt like he had closed the door to his heart.

He walked with his box over to the elevator, and rode it down to the first floor. He had brought a quarter with him so that he could call Frankie for the ride home.

Two days later, Mac was at the airport, now jobless and homeless, bound for Europe with his friends. Denise often came up to him and consoled him, but Mac was just hollow inside. He kept glancing around behind him, trying to see if Bloo was going to show up.

But this wasn't like the movies. Bloo wasn't going to show up and take him back and promise to change, and apologize for the hurt and pain he had caused him. They were broken up, and it looked like they were going to stay that way.

Mac swallowed, turning his attention to the gate. He saw his friends walking ahead of him. Bravely, he raised his chin, and proceeded down to catch up with his friends.

_Goodbye, Bloo._

**THE END…**

_Once again, here I am! So, that ending might have been disappointing for you. Just to start off, I'd like to say I'm sorry, in case you were. But I hope that it wasn't too bad of an ending, as I was trying a different approach. Once again, thank you to everyone!_


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